;>' 


*»Ml^ 


Columbia  5Bnt»er^ttp 

THE  LIBRARIES 


Bequest  of 

Frederic  Bancroft 

1860-1945 


MEMORANDA 


OF  THE 


IXPEEIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 


OF  A 


UMVERSALIST  PREACHER, 


WRITTEN  BY  HIMSELF. 


wte^or 


CINCINNATI: 
JOHN  A,  GURLEY,  PUBLISHER, 

1845. 


c^' 


Eatered  according  to  an  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1845, 

BY  JOHN  A.  GURLEY, 

in  tbe  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States, 

in  and  for  the  District  of  Ohio. 


1^1 9xr 


CD 


°^  PREFACE 


When  a  man  takes  it  upon  himself  to  write  his  own 
history,  he  is,  we  may  suppose,  either  moved  thereto  by  a 
propensity  to  egotism,  or  he  is  persuaded  that  he  is  fulfill- 
ing a  duty  to  the  public,  by  presenting  a  record  of  instruc- 
live  facts;  or  facts,  at  least,  which  he  judges  will  profitably 
engage  the  attention  of  the  reader.  With  the  former  of 
these  motives,  the  author  feels  that  he  is  liable  to  be 
charged;  with  what  truth  God  only  knows,  for  he  confesses 
that  he  himself  does  not;  in  his  own  partial  judgment, 
however,  he  stands  acquitted  of  it  altogether,  and  his  sole 
inducement  seems  to  be  the  latter  named  one.  He  puts 
forth  these  memoranda  now,  because  he  thinks  the  most 
eventful  period  of  his  life  is  past.  His  memory  freshly 
retains  the  incidents  of  that  period;  many  are  living  who 
can  attest  their  verity  if  it  should  be  doubted;  and  more- 
over he  judges  that  the  matters  of  his  history  will  interest 
the  present  generation  in  a  manner  that  they  cannot  the 
generations  to  come. 

Of  course  the  author  will  be  readily  pardoned — perhaps 
thanked,  to  boot — for  not  having  furnished  a  full  and  cir- 
cumstantial autobiography.  For  what  is  he,  that  the 
public  should  care  to  know  where  he  was  born,  or  when, 
or  who  were  his  ancestors,  or  how  he  behaved  himself  in 
the  nursery,  and  so  on?  There  are  individuals  in  regard 
to  whom  even  such  particulars  are  interesting,  but  the 
author  is  far  from  deeming  himself  one  of  these.  In 
short,  the  biography  of  an  eminent  personage,  however 
common-place  may  be  its  details,  is  interesting  because  of 
the  individual.  On  the  contrary,  what  is  related  of  a 
common  person,  if  it  prove  interesting  at  all,  is  so  only 
on  its  own  account.     The  reader  will  please  to  include  the 


4  PREFACE. 

following  narrative  within  the  latter  category,  and  he  will 
be  thereby  saved  the  trouble  of  inquiring : 

"  Why  has  this  gentleman  judged  himself  of  such  im- 
portance as  to  have  given  us  his  history,  whilst  many 
amongst  us,  greatly  his  superiors,  and  who  have  rendered 
far  greater  service  to  the  cause  of  truth,  are  passing  away 
without  leaving  any  record  of  themselves  behind?" 

Such  inquiries  it  is  hoped,  will  be  superceded,  or  at 
least,  satisfactorily  answered,  by  what  is  above  written — 
and  if  so,  the  author's  main  purpose  in  this  preface  will 
have  been  accomplished.  The  Authoe- 

Cincinnati,  Ohio,  1846. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

The  Author's  early  Religious  Experience — Begins  soon  to  ex- 
ercise himself  in  Public — Undertakes  a  Journey  to  the  West 
— Returns,  and  sojourns  in  Bristol,  Pennsylvania — Some  ad- 
entures  there  with  his  friend  Ben. 9 

CHAPTER    II. 

Is  prone  to  the  sin  of  Poetry-making — More  about  Ben — Re- 
ligious Swoonings — Eccentricities  of  Father  S. —  Devotes 
himself  permanently  to  the  Ministerial  profession.      -         -       H^* 

CHAPTER    III. 

Takes  the  charge  of  a  little  Society  at  Trenton,  N.  J. — Is 
somewhat  annoyed  by  Ranters — Begins  to  Itinerate — His 
ignorance  on  practical  subjects — Is  a  Latitudinarian  in  Ec- 
clesiastical aflairs — Visits  North-eastern  Pennsylvania,  and 
describes  the  Beech  woods  there — Portrays  a  class  of  Rant- 
ing Itinerants — Re-visits  the  Beech  woods — Some  difficul- 
ties from  getting  lost  there. -3(7 

CHAPTER    IV. 

Becomes  the  Pastor  of  a  Society  in  Philadelphia — Something 
of  Female  Preachers — Divine  Calls — Secret  Prayers  in  public 
places,  etc. — Adopts  free  opinions  in  Religion,  and  makes 
a  third  visit  to  the  woods /)9 

CHAPTER    V. 

Review — Avows  the  Universalist  Faith — Sermon  on  the  Rich 
Man  and  Lazarus — Poetises  again — Is  convinced  of  the  pro- 
priety of  connecting  himself  with  the  Universalist  body — 
Settles  with  a  Society  at  Brooklyn,  Pennsylvania — Some- 
thing of  the  practical  tendencies  of  Universalism.      -        -       78 

CHAPTER    VI. 

Two  night  adventures  in  the  woods — Wide  extent  of  his  cir- 
cuit of  Ministerial  Labors — Tour  to  Dover  Plains,  N.  Y.; 
and  Danbury,  Conn. — Praying  and  unprayingmen  compared 
— Coincidences  which  seemed  Providential — Rambles  and 
adventures  in  Bradford  county — Peculiar  Character  of  the 


"  CONTENTS. 

opposition  to  Universalism — Several  incidents  thereof  related 
— An  amusing  affair  at  Cudderbackville — Affair  at  a  Camp- 
meeting — A  controversial  tilt  or  two — Affair  at  an  Inquiry 
meeting,  with  an  exposition  of  Acts  x. — Affair  with  a  ter- 
magant.   -  -        -         -       95 

CHAPTER    VII. 

Comprising  the  events  of  a  first  journey  to  the  West :  to  Pitts- 
burg, Cincinnati,  etc. ;  and  a  journey  to  the  last  Association 
previous  to  his  removal  from  Pennsylvania.  -         -         -     t4!{ 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

A  second  journey  to  the  West — Visits  the  Southern  portion  of 
New  Jersey — Settles  with  the  Cincinnati  Society — Organ- 
izes a  Society  at  Patriot,  Indiana — connects  himself  with  the 
"Sentinel  and  Star  in  the  West" — Travels  in  behalf  of  that 
paper — Sees  some  dark  days  about  that  time.        -         -         -      16^ 

CHAPTER    IX. 

flis  prospects  begin  to  brighten — Visits  Yankee  Town,  has  a 
narrow  escape  from  death  there — Sets  out  on  a  journey  in 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Mississippi,  and  Alabama.         -         -     Ib9 

CHAPTER    X. 

Commences  writing  and  publishing  the  Pro  and  Coji  of  Uni- 
versalism— Visits  the  Wiiite  Oak  region  in  Highland  county, 
Ohio,  and  the  Wabash  region  in  Indiana.      .         -         -         -     225 

CHAPTER    XI. 

Visits  New  Orleans,  and  other  portions  of  Louisiana — Re- 
visits Pittsburg — Priestly  sway  in  that  quarter — Travels  in 
Northern  Ohio — Universalism  in  death 241 

CHAPTER    XII. 

Visits  Vicksburg,  and  other  parts  of  Mississippi — Travels  ex- 
tensively in  Louisiana — Re-visits  New  Orleans — Also,  Mo- 
bile, and  various  parts  of  Alabama. OtS 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

Reviews  Mr.Raper  against  Universalism— Holds  a  public  discus- 
sionwith  Mr.  Lucas,  at  Wilmington,  O. — Has  a  Theological 
passage  of  arms  with  a  Methodist  preacher  at  Waynesville,  O. 
Some  risks  and  hardships  from  high  water  in  the  Muskingum 
Valley — How  shall  the  drunkard  be  disposed  of  after  death?     '290 

CHAPTER     XIV. 

Extensive  journeyings  in  Kentucky,  and  Middle  and  Western 
Tennessee.    ..----.-.-     300 


CONTENTS.  7 

CHAPTER    XV. 

.Tourneys  with  his  family  through  Ohio,  and  a  large  portion  of 
N.York  and  Pennsylvania — Visits  several  portions  of  New 
England — Various  travels  about  the  Hudson  river,  and  the 
regions  about  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore — Re- 
turns to  Cincinnati,  by  a  long  and  devious  land  journey, 
flfter  an  absence  of  a  year.  ------     32J> 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

Re-visits  Louisiana  once  more,  and  diverges  to  St.  Louis  in  his 
way — Reflections  on  Slavery,  and  a  scheme  of  Progressive 
Emancipation— Attends  the  Indiana  State  Convention— Com- 
piles a  Hymn  Book  for  denominational  use  in  public  worship.     34r» 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

Vi.sits  Wheeling,  Virginia,  and  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania — Hasn 
discussion  of  three  days  duration  in  the  latter  city — Pene- 
trates into  several  hitherto  unvisited  parts  of  Ohio — Attends 
the  meeting  of  the  United  States  Convention  at  Akron,  Ohio 
and  returns  with  his  family,  by  way  of  Columbus         -         -     .'JGI 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

V^isits  St.  Louis,  Troy,  Missouri;  Alton,  Illinois;  Robertson 
county,  Nashville,  Memphis,  Tennessee;  also  Vicksburg, 
.fackson,  and  Brandon,  Mississippi 369 

CHAPTER    XIX. 

Vanous  journeyings  in  Northwestern  Pennsylvania.Western  N. 
York,  Upper  Canada,  Michigan,  Indiana',  and  Illinois.        -     .38:1 

CHAPTER    XX, 

The  state  of  Universalism  in  the  West,  at  the  time  of  the  Au- 
thor's first  acquaintance  with  it;  its  present  condition  and 
prospects — Reflections  on  the  style  of  preaching  best  adapt- 
ed for  permanent  usefulness;  and,  on  the  peculiar  mission  of 
Universalism  to  mankiud.     -„-....     39;; 


MEMORANDA 


UNIVEESALIST  PREAOHEE. 


CHAPTER    I. 

The  Author's  early  Religious  experience — Begins  soon  to  exercise 
himself  in  Public — Undertakes  a  Journey  to  the  West — Returns 
and  sojourns  in  Bristol,  Pensylvania — Some  adventures  there  with 
his  friend  Ben. 

My  public  career  may,  in  some  sort,  be  said  to  have 
commenced  as  soon  as  I  became  a  professor  of  religion, 
which  was  in  my  seventeenth  year;  I  was  then  a  resident 
of  Philadelphia,  of  which  beautiful  city  I  can  hardly  divest 
myself  of  the  impression  that  I  am  a  native,  from  my  hav- 
ing resided  in  it  since  so  early  an  age.  My  mother  church 
was  the  Episcopalian;  in  her  creed  and  ritual  I  was  very 
strictly  educated;  in  the  baptism  she  ministered  to  me  "I 
was  made — so  she  taught  me  to  profess — a  member  of 
Christ,  a  child  of  God,  and  an  inheritor  of  the  kingdom 
of  heaven;"  for  which  important  favor,  if  but  the  half  of 
it  be  true,  God  only  knows  how  large  are  my  obligations 
to  her.  In  my  thirteenth  year,  after  being  duly  cate- 
chised for  the  occasion,  I  was  confirmed;  what  that  meant  I 
knew  not;  the  tradition  about  it  among  us  juveniles  was, 
that  from  thenceforward  the  responsibility  of  our  guilt 
was  shifted  from  the  shoulders  of  our  god-fathers  and  god- 
mothers to  our  own;  I  felt,  for  my  part,  no  particular 
thankfulness  for  the  transfer.  It  may  be,  that  the  major- 
ity of  the  subjects  of  confirmation  in  that  church  under- 
stand the  purpose  of  the  rite  about  as  well  as  we  did. 

My  religious  experience,  when  I  came  to  have  any, 
was  not  according  to  what  was  then  inculcated  by  my 
mother  church,  though  she  now  enjoins  the  same,  especi- 
ally that  branch  of  her  which  is  termed  the  low,  or  evan- 
gelical party,  and  which  corresponds  to  what  is  termed 
the  new  school  in  the  Presbyterian  denomination.  Mixing 
2 


10  EXPEEIENCE,   LABORS,   A2iD   TRAVELS 

much  with  the  Methodists,  and  other  puritanic  classes,  I 
had  imbibed  the  notion  that  religion  is  the  result  of  a 
direct  energy  from  heaven  on  the  heart;  hence  the  sub- 
ject was  shrouded  in  a  vague  and  dream-like  obscurity;  I 
looked  for  dreams,  and  supernatural  appearances,  and  as 
others  commonly  professed  to  have  experienced  things  of 
the  kind,  I  was  often  tempted  to  be  angry  because  the 
Lord  did  not  vouchsafe  the  same  favors  to  me. 

Yet  I  must  own  that  I  experienced  nothing  in  harmony 
with  those  fancies;  there  was  a  perfect  naturalness,  and 
simplicity,  in  the  manner  of  my  becoming  a  subject  of 
religion;  no  lightnings  flashed,  no  thunders  rolled,  no 
pulpit  declamation  disturbed  the  sleep  of  my  conscience; 
1  was  alone  with  an  aged  relative — my  mother's  mother — 
she  was  about  to  leave  me  and  go  to  reside  in  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  and  she  was  condoling  with  me  on  the 
utter  loneliness  in  which  I  should  be  left  at  her  departure 
— an  orphan,  and  only  child — without  relative  of  any  sort 
to  go  to — isolated,  as  it  were,  from  the  rest  of  humanity. 
The  kind  old  lady  was  moved  almost  to  speechlessness. 
*'  But  never  mind,  my  dear,"  she  concluded  with  affected 
cheerfulness,  "  you  have  God  for  a  father,  after  all,  and 
you  will  need  no  other  friend — will  you?"  I  answered 
not  a  word — how  could  I?  My  heart  was  full,  and  ached 
to  relieve  itself  of  its  overflowing  emotion;  like  Joseph, 
when  so  moved  by  his  brother  Judah's  pathetic  appeal,  I 
wanted  a  secret  place  to  weep  in.  I  had  often  heard, 
before,  that  God  was  my  father;  it  was  a  trite  truth,  but 
I  had  never  felt  that  truth  before.  For  many  days  and 
nights  after  that  I  experienced  a  sort  of  bliss  in  weeping; 
a  sense  of  my  heavenly  Father's  love,  and  of  my  own 
ingratitude,  so  dissolved  my  heart  in  tenderness,  that  I 
supposed  it  never  would  be  susceptible  to  any  other  emo- 
tion, and  when  for  the  first  time  I  bowed  my  knees  in 
secret,  and  felt  that  my  soul  was  communing  with  its  invi- 
sible but  everywhere  present  Father,  I  am  persuaded 
that  I  experienced  a  portion  of  the  bliss  which  spirits  feel 
at  God's  right  hand. 

Still  I  judged  not  myself  to  have  experienced  conversion, 
for,  according  to  the  technical  signification  of  that  term, 
ajTiong  the  Methodists,  conversion  is  the  second  of  several 
mystical  degrees,  which  have  at  different  times  to  be 
taJien,  in  order  to  the  completion  of  the  christian  charac- 
ter :  conviction,  conversion,  sanctification,  and  perfection, 


OF   A  TJNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  11 

are,  in  their  view,  so  many  steps  in  the  ladder  of  ascen- 
sion to  heaven,  and  yet,  from  the  second  of  these  rounds 
the  subject  can  step  into  paradise  without  troubling 
himself  to  climb  the  remaining  two!  I,  for  my  part, 
had  been  favored  with  no  preternatural  visitations  — 
I  had  undergone  no  swoonings  ;  nor  had  I  heard  any 
voice  whispering  in  my  ear  that  my  sins  were  for- 
given. I  therefore  judged  not  myself  to  have  been  con- 
verted. And  great  was  my  grief  and  mortification  on 
that  account,  especially  as  I  was  in  the  habit  of  witness- 
ing the  process  in  others  on  almost  every  Sunday  even- 
ing, at  which  times — as  the  preachers  said — "  the  Lord 
was  on  the  giving  hand,"  which  I  took  to  mean  that  he 
was  in  a  more  liberal  fit  than  usual;  in  this  interpreta- 
tion, however,  I  may  have  done  ihem  injustice,  as  I  never 
to  this  day,  have  inquired  the  particular  meaning  of  the 
phrase,  or  whether  it  has  any.  Howbeit  many  of  the 
converts  got  through  the  operation  in  a  marvelously  short 
time,  whilst  I  prayed,  and  prayed,  earnestly  and  long,  to 
no  effect  save  that  of  expending  my  religious  fervor  and 
hardening  my  heart.  Alas!  my  efforts  to  get  at  the  bot- 
tom of  this  mysterious  business  were  similar  in  result  to 
that  of  which  the  poet  Cowper  speaks,  of — 

" dropping  buckets  into  empty  wells, 

And  growing  old  in  drawing  nothing  up." 

I  continued,  nevertheless,  to  love  and  reverence  God 
as  my  Father,  and  to  serve  him  according  to  my  crude 
conceptions  of  the  service  he  required,  I  had  happiness, 
tx)0,  in  those  days — unutterable  happiness;  more  intense, 
certainly  more  ecstatic,  than  I  have  ever  enjoyed  since, 
though,  I  must  own,  less  uniform,  and  subject  to  far  more 
serious  drawbacks,  than  is  the  religious  enjoyment  of  my 
later  years.  "  If  ignorance  is  bliss,"  saith  a  poet,  "  'tis 
folly  to  be  wise."  However  that  be,  (and  I  confess  it 
hard  to  dispute  the  deduction,)  it  is  nevertheless  true  that 
deluded  fanatics  in  religion  commonly  exhibit  a  more 
rapturous  state  of  feeling  than  belongs  to  the  more  sober 
and  enlightened  christian;  but,  then,  the  latter  is  not  as 
often,  nor  as  deeply,  depressed  as  they — he  is  not  panic- 
stricken  with  their  alarms — a  comet  affrights  him  not — 
the  thunder  to  him  is  not  the  voice  of  God's  wrath,  nor 
do  meteors,  to  his  disturbed  fancy,  bode  the  ruin  of  the 
world;    from  bug-bears  of  this  sort  the  truth  has  made 


12         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

him  free.  My  spiritual  horizon  remained  but  for  a  little 
while  unclouded;  a  friend  of  mine,  whom  I  had  not  known 
to  be  a  Deist,  put  the  Age  of  Reason,  D'Holbach's 
System  of  Nature,  and  other  similar  works  into  my 
hands,  the  reading  of  which  made  me  wretched  beyond 
description.  Oh,  how  dark  to  me  —  how  drear  were  a 
few  weeks  following  my  perusal  of  those  books!  I  was 
DOW  a  friendless  orphan  once  more;  from  heaven's  throne 
bent  over  me  no  Father's  watchful  love;  secret  prayer 
had  lost  its  object;  my  meditations  went  not  rapturously 
up|to  a  world  of  bliss  as  before;  my  only  prospect,  alas! 
was  through  a  vista  of  sorrow-beclouded  years  in  this  cold 
world,  to  a  grave,  from  which  was  to  be  no  resurrection. 

In  this  state  of  mind  I  first  read  the  Night  Thoughts, 
and  Chalmei*s'  Astronomical  Discourses,  with  a  zest 
which  words  would  feebly  describe.  I  also  read  Paley's 
Evidences,  and  his  Horae  Paulinse,  which,  with  seve- 
ral other  works  in  defense  of  divine  revelation,  com- 
pletely re-established  my  faith  in  the  Christian  religion. 
No  language  would  adequately  represent  my  bliss,  when 
returning  from  an  unusually  interesting  meeting,  one 
Sabbath  afternoon,  I  renewed,  in  the  secrecy  of  my 
chamber,  my  spiritual  intercourse  with  my  Father  in 
heaven.  Let  it  not  excite  the  reader's  scorn,  when  I  tell 
him,  that  the  meeting  referred  to  was  an  African  one,  and 
the  preacher  as  illiterate  as  negro  preachers  usually  are, 
for  so  much  the  more  did  the  simplicity  and  eloquence  of 
sentiment  which  marked  the  sermon  affect  me — it  seemed 
the  very  inspiration  of  truth.  And  as  I  looked  over  the 
large  congregation,  and  observed  the  rapt  delight  which 
beamed  in  almost  every  countenance,  I  was  forced  to  own 
that  the  religion  which  could  thus  sway  and  felicitate  that 
mass  of  individuals,  who  otherwise  might  be  spending  the 
day  in  crime,  or  hurtful  dissipation,  would  be  degraded  by 
a  comparison  with  the  cold  and  barren  abstractions  of 
infidel  philosophy.  I  think  so  still.  Since  that  period, 
thank  God!  no  doubt  has  ever,  but  very  passingly,  clouded 
the  heaven  of  my  faith. 

A  lad  named  William  Taylor,  and  I,  used  to  go  out 
amongst  the  brick-yards  in  the  suburbs  very  early  on 
Sabbath  mornings,  to  sing  and  pray  together,  where  none 
could  see  or  hear  us,  but  He  to  whom  our  devotions 
were  addressed.  We  continued  this  practice  for  a  year 
pv  two,  whenever   the  weather   would    admit  of  it ;   we 


OF   A   TJNIVEESALIST   PREACHER.  13 

also  used  to  take  books  with  us  to  read,  of  a  character 
to  fan  and  feed  the  devotional  flame.  Such  as  Bax- 
ter's Saints'  Rest,  Rowe's  Devout  Exercises,  Kempis^ 
Imitation  of  Christ,  St.  Augustine's  Meditations,  etc., 
thence,  our  custom  was,  to  return  in  time  for  public  wor- 
ship to  the  old  Academy,  on  Fourth  street;  the  Southern 
wing  of  which  was  used  by  the  Methodists  as  a  place  of 
religious  meeting.  Thomas  Burch  was  then  the  preacher 
there.  I  used  to  like  him  much;  he  was  more  meta- 
physical, and  less  vociferous,  than  were  the  most  of 
Methodist  preachers  at  that  day,  and,,  moreover,  he  sat 
his  face  against  the  irregularities  by  which  the  worship 
of  that  people  is  apt  to  be  disturbed.  From  my  recollec- 
tions of  him,  I  believe  Mr.  Burch  to  have  been  a  man  of 
sincere  piety  and  an  excellent  spirit.  Doctor  Sargeant, 
also,  used  occasionally  to  occupy  the  desk  at  the  Academy; 
his  stand  against  fanaticism  was  firm  and  uncompromising. 
I  remember,  that  once,  when  a  preacher  named  Cox,  had 
in  the  forenoon  sermon  vindicated  the  duty  of  always 
speaking  of  religion  whenever  it  was  practicable — never 
letting  an  occasion  pass  without  introducing  it  as  a  main 
topic,  etc..  Doctor  S.,  in  the  evening,  advised  against  such 
a  course,  pronouncing  it  to  be  fulsome  in  itself,  and 
annoying  to  others.  "  Many  people's  religion,"  said  he, 
"  evaporates  in  words,  when  actions  would  be  far  more  to 
the  purpose."     He  was  not  far  wrong  there,  I  think. 

But  no  preacher  holds  so  pleasant  a  place  in  my 
remembrance  of  those  times,  as  John  Summerfield.  I 
heard  him  shortly  after  his  arrival  from  England,  and, 
at  intervals,  till  near  the  time  of  his  death.  His  appear- 
ance was  very  youthful,  very  meek,  indicating  no  con- 
sciousness of  his  being  an  object  of  the  public  idola'.ry. 
His  eye  was  large,  and  had  the  brilliance,  and  his 
countenance  altogether  the  sort  of  unearthly  beauty, 
which  subjects  of  pulmonary  consumption  are  apt  to 
exhibit.  His  voice  was  winning,  mild,  and  musical — his 
language  simple,  unambitious,  and  easy  in  its  flow — his 
action  unstudied,  seldom  employed,  yet  when  it  was  so, 
it  was  grace  itself.  Mr.  Summerfield  was  apt  to  be 
thrillingly  affective  in  some  of  his  passages,  by  reason  of 
some  uncommon  beauty,  or  sublimity  of  thought,  which 
seemed  the  spontaneous  product  of  the  theme,  or  of  the 
occasion.  There  were  other  and  rival  lights  in  the 
firmament  of  Methodism  in  his  day,  but  I  doubt  whether 


14         EXPERIENCE,  LABOKS,  AND  TRAVELS 

before  or  since,  any  ever  shone  with  so  steady  and  placid 
a  brilliance. 

It  was  not  long  ere  I  begun  to  exercise  myself  in  publitj 
in  two  different  ways;  one  was  by  yisiting  the  city  alnis- 
house  on  Sunday  afternoons,  for  purposes  of  exhortation 
and  prayer.  In  this  business  I  was  joined  by  several  lads 
of  about  my  own  age.  We  commenced  on  the  rule  of 
visiting  the  men's  wards  on  one  Sabbath,  and  the  women's 
on  another,  alternately;  but  we  soon  found  reason  for 
departing  from  this  ai-rangement,  and  giving  our  attention 
exclusively  to  the  men,  for  they,  we  found,  were  almost 
wholly  neglected,  while  the  women's  apartments  were 
literally  overrun;  and  that,  too,  by  successive  troops  of 
men,  and  boys  of  different  ages.  Although  at  all  times 
very  dull  of  perception  in  most  things,  I  yet  was  soon 
sensible  to  the  indelicacy  of  a  practice  of  that  sort,  and  I 
now  look  back  on  it  with  feelings  of  decided  revulsion. 
A  young  female  once  beckoned  us  to  her  bedside,  and 
begun  complaining  to  us  in  moving  accents  of  the  harsh 
treatment  to  which  she  was  sometimes  subjected;  in  our 
simplicity  we  were  lending  a  pitying  ear  to  her  tale,  when 
she  sprung  from  her  bed,  en  chemise,  and,  pulling  a  strait 
jacket  from  under  its  foot,  was  proceeding  to  show  us  in 
what  way  they  confined  her  in  it  Avhen  her  mad  fits  came 
on!  A  general  but  half-suppressed  giggle  from  the  vari- 
ous beds,  made  us  sensible  of  the  ludicrousness  of  our 
situation;  we  were  not  long  in  making  our  escape  from 
the  room;  how  sheepishly,  is  left  for  the] reader's  imagin- 
ation. This  incident  (only  one  of  many  which  we  wit- 
nessed) determined  us  to  refrain  entirely  from  visiting 
the  female  wards.  Only  a  Sabbath  previous  we  ha3 
figured  in  a  still  worse  scene:  a  female  (from  what  motive 
God  only  knows)  gave  us  the  number  of  a  certain  room, 
with  a  particular  request  that  we  should  visit  it;  we  did 
so;  we  looked  at  each  other  in  mute  astonishment  at  the 
bold-faced  character  of  the  inm.ates,  and  the  little  concern 
they  gave  themselves  at  the  various  states  of  nudity  m 
which  we  found  them.  A  Methodist-looking  man  was  on 
his  knees  at  prayer  by  one  of  the  beds,  but  no  one  seemed 
in  the  lea.st  to  be  heeding  his  petition;  we  knelt  until  he 
had  closed,  and,  on  rising,  one  of  us  had  missed  his  hand- 
kerchief and  another  his  hymn-book  I  It  may  easily  be 
guessed  into  what  company  we  had  stumbled.  We  were 
glad  to  escape  without  making  any  noise  about  our  losses* 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  15 

Saying  nothing  of  the  indelicacy  of  such  intrusions  into 
the  sick  chamber  of  females,  what  shall  be  said  of  the 
annoyance,  on  their  part,  of  having  squads  of  grown  and 
half-grown  saints  trooping  through  their  apartments,  and 
vociferating  their  crude  notions  of  religion,  as  if  the 
circumstance  of  their  being  more  favored  in  point  of 
health  or  worldly  condition,  gave  them  a  title  to  be  wiser 
than  those  who  were  less  so?  It  were  pity,  indeed,  if 
pious  females  were  wanting  in  sufficient  number,  to  min- 
ister to  their  own  sex  in  their  sickness  and  poverty,  that 
the  office  must  be  left  to  the  less  delicate  administration 
of  men  and  boys;  but  truth  is,  that  men,  with  less  piety 
and  purity  of  heart  than  women,  in  general,  assume  to 
be  exclusively  privileged  in  the  matter  of  imparting 
sacred  instruction,  except  in  the  nursery,  and  other 
equally  obscure  departments. 

Another  way  in  which  I  publicly  exercised  myself,  was 
by  taking  part  in  the  debates  of  the  Berean  Society, 
which  was  composed  principally  of  Universalists,  and 
held  its  meetings  on  Tuesday  and  Friday  evenings  of 
every  week,  in  the  Northern  Liberties  and  the  Southwark 
Commissioners'  Halls.  It  is  probable  that  no  one  individ- 
ual, of  the  orthodox  faith,  participated  for  so  long  a  time 
in  these  discussions  as  I  did,  and  for  the  reason,  probably, 
that  I  had  less  sense  than  others  to  perceive  that  the 
Universalists  gained  on  the  public  attention  and  confi- 
dence in  proportion  as  they  were  opposed.  In  the  infan- 
cy of  the  institution  these  debates  were  conducted  with 
great  zeal  and  animation;  men  of  learning  and  eminence 
in  orthodox  churches  engaged  in  them,  but  these,  one 
after  another,  withdrew,  and  left  the  business  of  battling 
with  heresy  to  ignorant  men  and  boys.  My  own  opposi- 
tion to  Universalism  was  very  sincere.  I  viewed  it  as  a 
most  dangerous  delusion.  I  had  more  than  once  heard 
m.y  tutor  in  Latin  (a  Presbyterian  clergyman)  for  whom  I 
had  great  respect,  say,  that  without  the  possibility  of 
doubt,  both  the  preachers  and  hearers  of  that  faith  would 
be  eternally  damned.  This  was  sufficiently  high  author- 
ity for  me.  Nevertheless,  though  sincere,  my  opposition 
was  characterised  by  a  calmness  of  manner,  and  a  readi- 
ness of  concession,  where  candor  required  it,  which  led 
my  opponents  to  predict,  and  my  friends  to  fear,  that  I 
was  in  the  end  to  become  an  advocate  of  the  faith  I  was 
laboring  to  destroy — a  thing,  God  knows,  which  was  far 


16         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

enough  from  my  purpose  at  the  time.  Several  of  my 
friends  remonstrated  with  me  on  the  danger  I  incurred  in 
attending  those  meetings,  and  some  of  them,  privately, 
made  such  representations  to  my  grandmother  (the  aged 
relative  aforementioned — she  had  returned  from  Carolina) 
as  induced  her  to  beseech  me,  with  tears,  to  refrain  from 
attending  the  Berean  debates.  I  ought,  perhaps,  to  have 
obeyed  her,  but,  in  truth,  the  poor  old  lady  knew  abso- 
lutely nothing  about  the  matter.  She  had  been  told  thai 
Universalists  denied  God,  and  Christ,  and  heaven,  and  all 
things  sacred,  and  held  to  people's  robbing,  swearing, 
murdering,  etc.,  by  natural  right.  As  a  thing  of  course, 
1  felt  the  more  determined  to  continue  acting  my  part  in 
these  meetings  from  the  fact  of  my  doing  so  being  op- 
posed on  so  unreasonable  grounds :  and,  moreover,  how 
large  an  interest  my  vanity  may  have  felt  in  the  matter, 
the  Lord,  who  knoweth  all  things,  only  knoweth;  for  l 
got  far  more  credit  for  ability  in  those  debates  than  I  was 
fairly  entitled  to;  my  appearance  was  extremely  youthful; 
I  looked,  by  several  years,  younger  than  I  really^was;  this 
led  to  an  exaggeration,  on  the  part  of  the  hearers,  of  the 
very  trifling  degree  of  talent  my  arguments  exhibitedj 
One  evening,  having  made  the  concluding  argument,  I 
was  surrounded  by  several  of  the  members,  when  the 
meeting  broke  up,  who  were  anxious  to  correct  the  mis- 
takes they  said  I  had  committed.  Seeing  me  thus  beset, 
the  celebrated  Abner  Kneeland  approached  us,  and,  laying 
his  hand  caressingly  on  my  head,  remarked,  "  Let  the  lad 
alone,  he  did  the  best  he  could,  and  will  make  a  good 
Universalist  preacher  one  of  these  days."  Some  few  of 
the  members,  however,  judged  it  a  derogation  from  the 
dignity  of  the  meetings  to  allow  the  privilege  of  the  floor 
to  so  juvenile  an  opponent;  among  these  was  a  Mr.  P., 
a  glazier,  an  uncommonly  shrewd  and  talkative  old  man, 
and  the  nearest  approximation  to  absolute  rotundity  of 
person,  of  which  I  can  conceive  the  human  animal  capa- 
ble ;  he  was  familiarly  known  to  many  by  the  soubriquet  of 
Old  Putty.  This  old  man  stoutly  opposed  my  being 
allowed  to  participate  in  the  discussions,  and  laid  much 
stress  on  the  circumstance  that  my  beard  had  not  yet 
begun  to  show  itself.  After  several  had  advocated  my 
right  to  be  heard  in  defence,  I  had  the  good  fortune  to 
turn  the  laugh  of  the  house  on  Old  Putty,  by  retorting, 
that  if  he  succeeded  in  voting  me  down  on  the  score  of  a 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  17 

want  of  beard,  I  should  depute  a  he-goat  to  conduct  the 
argument  against  him  in  future.  This  jeu  d'^esprit  com- 
pletely turned  the  scale  in  my  favor.* 

My  own  decided  opinion  is,  that  I  was  not  qualified  to 
debate  in  those  meetings,  neither  in  point  of  information 
nor  ability,  but  I  then  had  a  less  just  notion  of  myself, 
and,  truth  to  say,  we  usually  know  less,  in  proportion  as 
we  learn  more ;  nearly  a  score  of  years  have  since  elaps- 
ed, during  the  most  of  which  I  have  been  a  tolerably 
diligent  student,  but  I  am  now  infinitely  less  of  a  master- 
of-all-knowledge  than  I  then  supposed  myself. 

Conformably  to  a  recommendation  very  common  with 
the  christians  amongst  whom  I  moved,  I  used  frequently 
to  read  the  Bible  on  my  knees ;  my  ostensible  object  was 
truth;  but,  in  reality,  I  sought  it  for  arguments  in  support 
of  my  creed ;  and  when  I  lighted  on  a  text  which  seemed 
to  favor  it,  how  devoutly  did  I  use  to  thank  God  for  such 
a  help  against  the  heretics  of  the  Berean  Society !  "  O 
thou,  who  seest  in  secret!"  is  not  the  truth  often  thus 
sought  for,  and  are  not  thine  oracles  too  often  thus  read? 
Yet  would  I  not  presumptuously  arraign  the  sincerity  of 
any  in  this  matter,  for  not  only  should  I  fall  myself  into 
the  same  condemnation,  but  I  know,  also,  that  the  mind  la 
easily  led  to  deceive  itself  under  pious  pretexts,  and  in 
favor  of  its  long-standing  prepossessions.  That  truth 
should  be  sought  in  a  devout  and  humble  spirit,  and  that 
the  Bible,  in  the  true  spirit  of  it,  may  be  thus,  and  only 
thus  understood,  I  with  all  my  soul  believe;  but  that  a 
devout  and  humble  spirit  is  more  likely  to  be  possessed 
on  one's  knees  than  in  any  other  attitude,  is,  to  me,  far 
from  self-evident. 

It  was  by  slow  degrees,  and  without  human  authority, 
that  I  assumed  the  profession  of  a  minister  of  the  gospel : 
my  first  sermon  was  preached  in  the  village  of  Attleboro, 
Bucks  County,  Pa.,  from  the  text,  "  Blessed  are  the  pure 
in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God" — which,  to  the  present 
day,  is  a  very  favorite  text  with  me,  and  a  text  to  the 
truth  of  which  I  most  devoutly  subscribe.  I  was  then  but 
a   little   over   twenty  years    old.      Shortly  afterwards  I 

*A  Mr.  Elwell,  of  Springboro,  Ohio,  but  formerly  of  Philadel- 
phia, and  a  prominent  member  of  the  Berean  Society,  recently 
refreshed  my  memory  as  to  the  first  of  these  incidents.  For  the 
latter  I  am  indebted  to  a  Mr.  Nelson,  also  formerly  of  that  city, 
but  now  living  near  Millersburgh,  Kentucky. 


18         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

undertook  a  journey  on  foot  to  the  western  country,  m 
company  with  two  young  Kentuckians,  whose  glowing 
descriptions  of  the  beauty  of  that  region  stimulated  me  to 
the  boyish  adventure;  I  proved,  however,  quite  unequal 
to  the  fatigues  of  it,  for  by  the  time  of  our  arrival  at 
Green  Village,  (145  miles  from  Philadelphia)  I  was  taken 
ill  of  a  billions  intermittant  fever,  and  my  companions 
were  compelled  to  proceed  without  me.  My  illness  con- 
tinued, in  a  greater  orl  ess  degree,  for  nearly  six  months, 
during  which  time  I  wandered  from  place  to  place  accord- 
ing as  my  feeble  strength  and  scanty  means  permitted. 
For  the  first  three  weeks  I  tarried  with  a  Methodist  fam- 
ily in  Green  Village;  they  prayed  night  and  morning, 
and  said  grace  before  and  after  meat  with  great  strictness; 
tliey  also  held  prayer-meetings  in  their  house.  As  I,  in 
those  days,  took  my  estimate  of  people's  piety  from  such 
things,  I  judged  them  to  be  exceedingly  good  christians, 
and  felt  happy  to  have  fallen  into  such  quarters,  although 
their  style  of  living  was  coarse  in  the  extreme,  and  I  was 
charged  for  it  at  tavern  rates;  no  matter,  where  so  much 
piety  was,  nothing  wrong  could  be,  thought  simple  I. 
When,  however,  they  found  my  funds  to  have  got  low, 
and,  consequently,  that  the  prospect  was  faint  for  a  pecu- 
niary recompence  for  such  trouble  as  they  might  be  at 
on  my  account,  they  considerately  advised  me  to  go  farther 
— a  change  of  air  might  do  me  good;  yet  they  were  quite 
doubtful  if  ,1  should  not  die  somewhere  on  the  road,  and 
therefore,  this  hospitable  and  pious  family  would  willingly 
have  stript  me  of  such  trifling  valuables  as  I  possessed, 
under  the  pretext  of  wanting  something  to  remember  me 
by:  "it  was  better,"  they  said, '•  that  my  friends  should 
have  these  things,  than  that  they  should  fall  into  the 
hands  of  strangers^  For  the  credit  of  humanity  I  mu^ 
record,  that  during  the  whole  term  of  my  sickness  and 
wanderings,  I  met  with  no  such  instances  of  cold  and 
heartless  selfishness  as  was  exhibited  by  this  family ;  on 
the  contrary,  I  was  everywhere  sympathised  with,  and 
ministered  to,  with  a  kindness  which  never  waited  for 
solicitation,  nor  asked  for  other  proof  of  my  need  than 
my  pale  face  and  attenuated  figure  exhibited.  The  reader 
must  not,  from  this  account,  infer  anything  to  the  dis- 
credit of  Methodists  generally  ;  they  are,  as  the  poet 
Savage  says  of  priests,  "like  other  men;  some  bad,  some 
good :"  had  I  fallen  into  the  hands  of  another  Methodist 


OF   A   UNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  19 

family,  the  next  day,  their  conduct  might  have  been  the 
exact  reverse  of  that  here  recorded.  1  have  a  thousand 
times  learned  that  denominational  titles  are  not  the  cer- 
tain indications  of  qualities,  either  good  or  badj  and  that 
of  even  the  worst  parties,  it  holds  true,  equally  as  of 
individuals,  that  "  none  are  all  evil." 

On  the  second  night  after  my  departure  from  Green 
Village,  a  young  man  found  me  lying  in  a  woods  near 
Ghambersburg,  incapable  of  rising  without  assistance. 
With  much  importunity  he  gained  my  consent  to  his 
carrying  me  home  to  his  father's  house  ;  when  arrived 
there,  1  found  six  members  of  the  family  down  with  the 
same  disease  as  my  own — for,  as  1  afterwards  learned,  it 
prevailed  throughout  that  whole  region  at  that  time — 
nevertheless,  for  nearly  a  month  1  was  ministered  to  in 
the  kindest  manner,  and  with  unwearying  cheerfulness, 
during  which  time  they  neither  inquired  my  name, 
country,  business,  nor  creed,  and  refused,  at  the  end, 
to  listen  to  any  promise  of  a  future  compensation.  Does 
the  reader  wish  to  know  what  was  their  religion?  I  must 
inform  him,  then,  that  they  belonged  to  that  extensive 
cJass  which  religionists  contemptuously  style,  "the  world's 
people;"  nevertheless,  they  were  good  Samaritans  to  me. 

On  the  day  that  I  lay  in  the  woods  where  the  young 
man  found  me,  I  once,  impelled  by  a  burning  thrist,  made 
my  way  to  a  cabin  within  sight  to  get  some  water;  finding 
nobody  within,  I  betook  myself  to  the  pump  which  stood 
in  the  yard,  but  its  handle  being  some  five  feet  long,  of 
solid  iron,  and  a  large  nob  at  the  end,  of  the  same  metal, 
after  the  old  Dutch  fashion,  I  could  not  work  it  in  my 
feeble  state,  and  was  fain  to  go  on  my  knees  and  drink 
out  of  a  trough  which  stood  under  the  spout,  in  which  a 
hog  or  two  were  at  the  same  time  sporting  their  snouts. 
While  thus  employed,  the  woman  who  tenanted  the  cabin 
returned,  and  of  her  I  obtained  a  drink.  She  was  of  an 
unusually  robust  figure,  with  a  blooming  countenance, 
and  might  have  sat  to  a  painter  for  an  impersonation  of 
health.  She  expressed  great  sympathy  for  me;  said  she 
could  hardly  endure  to  see  me  tottering  from  her  humble 
cottage  without  offering  me  its  shelter,  "  for  you  look," 
said  she,  "  as  though  you  could  not  survive  the  night, 
without  the  best  of  care.  But,"  she  added,  "  my  husband 
is  from  home,  and  I  cannot,  therefore,  invite  you  to  be 
my  guest."     Well,  after  being  for  nearly  a  month  wiih 


20         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

my  hospitable  friends,  "  the  world's  people,"  and  nearly 
the  whole  time  delirious,  I  was  telling  them  of  my  inter- 
view with  this  woman,  and  remarking  on  her  uncommonly 
healthful  appearance.  *'  She  is  dead  and  buried !  "  ex- 
claimed several  of  them,  at  once.  Yes,  within  two  weeks 
after  I  saw  her,  that  blooming  woman  was  in  her  grave, 
and  the  then  pale  and  tottering  wanderer,  who,  as  she 
thought,  could  hardly  live  to  see  the  morrow,  yet  lives 
to  record  the  fact  after  a  lapse  of  over  twenty  years. 

Supposing  myself  sufficiently  recovered,  I  left  my  kind 
entertainers,  and  proceeded  to  Chambersburg,  (only  four 
miles  off,)  where  I  lingered  for  several  days — for  I  was 
yet  far  from  well — and  supported  myself  by  selling  my 
watch  at  less  than  a  fourth  of  its  value;  being  still 
delirious,  I  labored  under  the  impression  that  they  would 
drive  me  out  of  the  place  if  they  knew  me  to  be  sick,  I 
therefore  constrained  myself  to  wear  as  cheerful  a  face 
as  possible,  and  as  I  needed  to  lay  down  for  the  most  of 
the  day,  I  found  an  angle  at  the  back  end  of  the  Court- 
house, where  I  could  do  so  unobserved,  and  be  screened 
from  the  sun  by  a  jutting  wing  of  the  building.  Such,  on 
the  hard  ground,  was  my  sick  couch  by  day,  and  at  night, 
I  lodged  at  the  White  Horse  tavern,  kept  by  a  Mr.  Sny- 
der. I  have  more  than  once,  long  since  then,  lodged  at 
the  same  tavern,  under  circumstances  far  different. 

Finding  it  but  seventy-five  miles  from  Chambersburg 
to  Baltimore,  where  I  had  an  uncle,  (my  mother's  only 
brother,)  whom  I  had  not  seen  for  many  years,  I  set  out 
for  that  city,  in  the  hope  of  being  able  to  reach  it  by 
short  stages.  The  season  was  towards  the  latter  end  of 
Autumn,  when  the  nights  begin  to  be  cold;  I  suffered  no 
little  from  that  circumstance  in  crossing  the  South  moun- 
tain, which  I  did,  from  the  northern  foot  to  the  summit, 
after  sunset,  and  took  lodgings  at  the  summit  tavern, 
where  I  arrived  shaking  with  an  ague.  I  was  put  in  the 
same  room  with  a  wagoner,  who  had  been  there  for 
several  days  indulging  in  a  drunken  debauch,  his  six 
horses  and  loaded  wagon  standing  there  idle,  meanwhile. 
No  less  than  five  times  during  the  night,  this  unfortunate 
man  called  out  to  me,  that  he  was  on  fire  and  burning  up, 
and  so  piteous  were  his  groans  and  cries  for  water,  that 
I  as  often  left  my  bed  to  get  him  some,  groping  my  way 
down  the  strange  stairs  and  into  the  yard,  at  the  risk  of  my 
neck.     "  Never  taste  liquor,  my  young  friend,"  he  would 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  21 

again  and  again  exclaim.  "  O,  for  God's  sake  avoid  it,  if 
you  don't  wish  to  be  the  wretchedest  being  in  existence. 
O !  my  heart  is  on  fire !  it's  on  fire  I  O !  if  you  would 
shun  my  fate,  young  man,  never  taste  liquor — never!" 
Yet,  when  I  left  my  chamber  next  morning,  which,  as 
may  be  supposed,  was  somewhat  late,  the  landlord  inform- 
ed me  that  this  wretched  man  had  already  drank  eleven 
drams. 

My  next  stay  was  for  three  days  with  a  simple-minded 
Putch  family  at  the  southern  foot  of  the  mountain.  Get- 
tysburg was  but  a  few  miles  off,  and  of  this  they  talked 
as  though  it  was  some  large  metropolis;  it  made  them 
dizzy,  they  said,  to  go  there,  there  were  so  many  things 
to  be  seen,  and  so  much  noise  and  bustle.  Yet  it  is  but 
an  ordinary  sized  country  town!  Proceeding  on,  at  the 
rate  of  six  or  eight  miles  per  diem,  I  reached  the  Cross 
Keys  tavern,  over  the  Maryland  border,  where  by  the 
humane  landlord,  and  equally  humane  wife,  I  was  detained 
in  spite  of  myself  for  full  six  weeks,  and  every  benevo- 
lent attention  was  gratuituously  rendered  me.  It  was 
with  some  difficulty,  and  not  till  they  had  procured  me  a 
passage  to  Baltimore  in  a  wagon — stages  did  not  then  run 
on  that  road — that  I  could  get  this  kind  couple  to  consent 
to  my  leaving  when  I  did,  for  they  insisted  that  I  was  not 
yet  sufficiently  recovered.  Nor,  indeed,  was  I,  but  I 
affected  to  be  so,  from  a  reluctance  to  tresspass  longer  on 
their  liberality.     These  people  were  Roman  Catholics. 

Pale  as  marble,  emaciated,  and  shivering  in  a  thin 
summer  garb  in  the  middle  of  December,  I  presented 
myself  to  my  uncle,  who  recognized  me  because  of  a 
likeness  I  then  bore,  as  he  said,  to  my  mother  in  her  last 
illness.  I  remained  with  him  until  I  had  so  far  regained 
my  health  and  strength,  as  to  justify  my  setting  out  for 
Philadelphia,  which,  from  Baltimore,  is  distant  one  hun- 
dred miles.  The  route  in  those  days  was  through  a 
sparsely  peopled  and  wild  sort  of  country;  the  several 
small  streams  which  intersected  the  road  were  without 
bridges,  and  in  that  wintry  season,  for  it  was  early  in 
February,  the  journey  on  foot,  through  mud  and  snow, 
proved  a  most  toilsome  one.  At  Havre  de  Grace  I  crossed 
the  Susquehannah  on  the  ice,  in  my  stocking  feet,  for  as 
it  had  frozen  but  the  night  before,  it  was  so  exceedingly 
slippery  that  I  could  make  no  progress  over  it  in  my 
shoes;  its  width  at  that  place  is  fully  a  mile,  I  should  think; 


22         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AI^D  TRAVELS 

I  know  that  I  thought  it  doubly  that,  as  it  creaked  under 
my  weight  at  every  step.  I  tarried  for  a  night  at  Elkton. 
A  strange  event  had  recently  transpired  near  there.  An 
old  gentleman  having  made  a  visit  of  several  days  to  his 
son,  at  Wilmington,  had  requested  the  latter  to  accompany 
him  through  a  certain  extensive  woods,  on  his  route 
homeward,  as  some  robberies  had  recently  occurred  there 
and  he  feared  to  pass  it  alone.  The  son,  accordingly, 
armed  himself,  and  accompanied  his  father  to  a  point 
where  the  road  ceased  to  be  dangerous;  they  there 
exchanged  adieus  in  the  most  affectionate  manner,  and 
having  shaken  hands,  were  in  the  act  of  parting,  when 
the  son's  hand  accidentally  struck  the  trigger  of  a  loaded 
pistol  which  he  carried  in  a  girdle,  to  be  ready  for  instant 
use,  and  the  ball  entered  the  old  man's  heart!  Thus  the 
very  means  he  had  adopted  for  his  safety,  proved  the 
occasion  of  his  death.  How  little  we  know  what  an  event 
will  bring  forth ! 

Shortly  after  my  return  to  Philadelphia,  from  the  suf- 
fering and  toilsome  journey  I  have  described,  I  went  to 
live  in  Bristol,  twenty  miles  northeast  of  Philadelphia, 
and  most  "  cozily  situated,"  (as  Laurie  Todd  would  say,) 
on  the  shore  of  the  Delaware ;  I  remained  there  for  some- 
thing more  than  a  year,  and  boarded  during  the  major 
part   of    the   time   with    an    excellent   Methodist    family 

named  T .     In  conjunction  with  a  son  of  this  family, 

Benjamin  by  name,  I  used  to  hold  some  two  or  three 
religious  meetings  per  week,  and,  between  us,  (though  I 
was  not  a  member,)  we  added  not  a  few  to  the  Methodist 
society  there. 

Benjamin  T.,  the  son  of  my  host  there,  was  by  about 
two  years  my  inferior  in  age,  but,  as  I  unaffectedly  think, 
my  superior  in  mental  endowment,  especially  of  the  kind 
requisite  for  public  speaking.  In  close  reasoning  I  think 
I  excelled  him,  and  in  verbal  accuracy,  also;  but  he  far 
surpassed  me  in  mental  force,  in  compass  of  voice,  in 
grace  of  action,  and  in  impassioned  volubility.  I  am  not 
sure  that  I  did  not  envy  brother  Ben,  as  I  was  wont  to 
call  him,  on  the  ground  of  his  outshining  me  in  these 
respects;  be  that  as  it  may,  my  efforts  to  improve  him 
were  ardent  and  unremitting,  and  if  this  should  be  deemed 
incompatible  with  envy,  1  would  hint,  that  it  is  quite 
possible  my  vanity  was  as  largely  concerned  in  the 
business  as  my  benevolence. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  23 

O,  me!  how  many  amusing  anecdotes  could  I  relate 
of  those  days!  How  Ben  and  I  used  to  exhort  the  con- 
gregations by  turns;  how  we  used — by  stipulation — to 
groan  for  each  other,  ejaculate  amens,  and  the  like,  in 
order  that  our  pious  exercises  might  have  the  more  effect. 
Upon  my  word,  this  is  as  true  as  gospel,  and  that,  too, 
without  necessarily  implying  any  impeachment  of  our 
sincerity,  for  conscience  winks  at  much  duplicity  when 
it  is  practiced  in  the  name  of  religion.  Ben  could  arouse 
a  congregation  better  than  I,  he  could  alarm  their  feai*s, 
too;  my  softer  voice  and  manner,  better  fitted  me  to 
address  the  tenderer  feelings;  hence,  we  were  well  quali- 
fied to  act  together  by  reason  of  the  very  contrasts 
between  us. 

We  were  wont  at  times  to  resort,  on  moonlight  nights, 
to  the  grave-yard  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  making  speeches  over  the  tombs,  founded  on  the 
epitaphs  thereon  inscribed.  Peace  to  thee!  sacred  and 
venerable  fane!  and  peace  to  those  who  slumber  in  thine 
ancient  graves!  In  the  picture  which  memory  paints  of, 
at  once,  the  most  suffering,  and  yet  most  happy  period  of 
my  life,  thou,  venerated  pile,  art  a  prominent  object,  and  she 
loves  to  linger  about  thy  quiet  and  picturesque  precincts. 

Where  brother  Ben  and  I  full  oft  retir'd, 

With  zeal  to  excel  our  youthful  bosoms  fir'd, 

When  evening  on  the  earth  had  spread  its  gloom, 

To  muse  and  spout  o'er  many  an  ancient  tomb. 

There  (though  none  heard)  we  spoke  a  world  of  sense, 

No  pulpit  e'er  displayed  such  eloquence; 

Between  us  both  most  lengthy  words  wore  said — 

What  pity  they  were  wasted  on  the  dead! 

We  never  saw — 'tis  true  we  ne'er  did  look 

To  see — if  any  of  the  tombstones  shook, 

Or  any  ghosts  were  charmed  out  of  their  places, 

With  saucer  eyes  to  stare  us  in  our  faces, 

And  question  who  we  were,  what  there  we  did, 

Or  blab  their  secrets  about  money  hid — 

Murders  committed — heirs  wrong'd  of  their  estate — 

What  us  awaited  in  our  future  fates. 

And  other  things  that  would  to  time's  end  reach, 

According  to  the  creed  old  ladies  teach. 

These  we  never  saw;  but  we  have  seen  the  trees 

Shake  rather  hard — perhaps  'twas  by  the  breeze. 

All  else  was  still  as  when  a  parson  preaches. 

Lest  any  fuss  might  interrupt  our  speeches. 

But  Ben,  alas!  proved  in  the  end  quite  unsteady;    his 
notions  of  himself  were  very  towering;  he  strongly  in- 


94  EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

clined,  moreover,  to  run  aground,  and  wreck  his  bark,  on 
the  lee-shore  of  female  fascination;  and,  oh!  with  how 
many  wrecks  of  saintship  is  that  dangerous  coast  be- 
strewn! Ben  loved,  after  exhorting  in  meeting,  to  indulge 
in  soft  relaxations  amongst  the  pretty  sisters  of  the 
church.  I  foresaw  his  danger  from  this  source,  and 
interposed  my  frequent  and  earnest  counsel  in  order 
to  save  him.  But  Ben  was  incorrigible;  he  soon  fell 
under  church  censure,  and  lost  his  license  to  preach. 
The  loss  of  his  religion  soon  followed;  he  doffed  his 
round-bellied  coat;  put  himself  under  the  tuition  of  a 
doctor  in  the  village  to  be  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of 
body-curing,  instead  of  soul-curing,  and  in  a  marvelously 
short  time  Ben  could  pour  forth  the  technicalities  of 
the  medical  science  as  volubly  as  he  formerly  did  those 
of  divinity.  I  had  ceased  to  be  a  resident  of  Bristol 
when  this  change  in  his  affairs  came  about,  and  was 
living  in  Sweedsboro',  New  Jersey,  where,  however,  I 
was  fully  informed  of  all  that  had  transpired,  and  in 
reference  thereto  I  perpetrated  the  following  piece  of 
doggrel  satire,  in  a  letter  to  his  father : — 

Some  events  have  occurred,  or  concurred,  I  might  say, 

On  my  purpose  of  writing  to  throw  some  delay; 

However,  to  pay  you  for  waiting  some  time, 

I  will  send  you  some  scraps  of  my  wisdom  in  rhyme, 

But  for  fear  you  should  think  me  a  jingling  pest, 

I  will  rhyme  but  a  part,  and  make  prose  of  the  rest. 

And  first,  for  a  hint — for  in  poetry  I  find 

I  can  slip  out  a  hint  rather  best  to  my  mind — 

'Bout  the  sphere  of  my  thoughts  an  inquiry  has  hover'd 

Whether  Ben  has,  in  culling  of  simples,  discover'd. 

That  religion  belongs  to  the  dire  febrile  train, 

And,  like  most  other  fevers,  deranges  the  brain? 

If  so,  'tis  a  wond'rous  discov'ry,  I  own. 

And  I  think  that  in  mercy  its  cause  should  be  shown; 

And  were  I  as  much  of  a  doctor  as  poet, 

I  would  ding  out  some  technical  phrases,  and  show  it; 

For  the  cause  being  shown  we  could  soon  find  a  cure. — 

I  say  we — I'm  too  fast — I  mean  Ben  to  be  sure. 

For  what  is  our  knowledge  of  cures'?     A  mere  puff". 

When  compared  with  his  quackship's  who  pounds  doctor  stuff; 

Why,  only  to  hear  him  harangue !     Such  great  words 

Never  came  from  a  common  man's  mouth.     Among  birds 

There  is  one  called  the  magpie — to  hear  him,  you'd  swear 

He  had  been  in  Ben's  drug  shop,  and  learn'd  to  prate  there. 

At  this  distance  of  time,  I  can  render  no  particular 
reason  for  the  severity  of  these  allusions  to  my  old  chum; 
possibly,  as  I  deemed  myself  to  be  a  saint,  and  him  to 


OF   A    UNIVERSALIST   PREACHER  25. 

have  <'  fallen  from  grace,"  I  merely  used  a  saint's  privi- 
lege of  abusing  a  reprobate.  It  may  be,  however,  that 
my  motive  was  really  the  benevolent  one  of  goading  Ben, 
by  the  stings  of  sarcasm,  to  a  renewal  of  his  christian 
vocation.  He  never  did  renew  it  though — I  grieve  to 
record  it — but  he  became  an  inebriate,  and  died  su^h. 
Alas!  for  thee,  my  old  friend. 


CHAPTER    II, 

Ib  prone  to  the  sin  of  poetry-making — more  about  Ben — Religious 
Bwoonings— Eccentricities  of  Father  S. — Devotes  himself  per- 
manently to  the  ministerial  profession. 

I  was  somewhat  given  to  the  folly  of  poetising  in  those 
days — as  I  yet  am,when  I  ought  to  know  better, — I  was 
even  flattered  by  many  with  the  idea  that  I  really  was  a 
poet  of  no  common  promise — a  judgment  in  which  my 
vanity  very  cordially  coincided,  I  will  not,  even  now, 
•affect  the  humility  of  denying  that  I  believe  myself  to 
have  been  a  tolerable  versifier,  which  is  not  stretching  my 
pretensions  very  high,  inasmuch  as  it  is  a  talent  quite 
common  with  boys  and  boarding-school  misses;  whereas, 
to  be  a  genuine  poet  is  the  privilege  of  but  here  and  there 
one  to  millions — "  a  remnant  according  to  the  election  of 
grace."  While  living  in  Bristol  I  wrote  a  pompous  piece, 
entitled  "  Midnight,"  which,  by  my  associates,  as  ignorant 
as  myself,  was  lavishly  praised.  But  what  most  elated  me 
in  regard  to  it,  was  the  applause  it  gained  me  from  a 
Philadelphia  clergyman  and  teacher  of  the  ancient  lan- 
guages, who  was  up  at  Bristol  spending  a  short  vacation. 
He,  and  a  student  of  his,  named  Johnson,  (now  an  Epis- 
copal clergyman,)  and  Ben,  and  myself,  were  crossing 
over  to  the  opposite  shore  in  a  skiff,  on  an  afternoon  as 
beautiful  and  as  bright  as  my  hopes;  the  student  whispered 
me  to  hand  him  the  poem,  and  he  would  subject  it  to  the 
great  man's  inspection;  the  rowing  was  suspended,  whilst 
by  his  direction,  it  was  slowly  and  distinctly  read  to  him. 
With  a  heart  palpitating,  meanwhile,  like  a  culprit's, 
pending  sentence,  I  awaited  the  oracle's  decision.  Con- 
ceive my  delight,  reader,  when  it  proved  one  of  unqualified 
approval.     "  Your  fortune  is  made,"  whispered  Ben  in  my 


26         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

ear,  "  for  Mr.  — ,  is  a  judge  capable  of  criticising  Homer 
himself."  Mercy  on  us!  what  simpletons  young  fellows 
are  when  about  passing  into  the  adolescent  state!  The 
life-in-a-garret  fortune  of  a  poet  would  be  fine  ground  for 
gratulation,  truly!  No,  no,  my  friend  Ben,  you  were 
mistaken,  and  the  oracle  was  not  qualified  to  discriminate 
between  high-sounding  jingle  and  poetry.  The  thing  was 
sufficiently  orthodox  in  sentiment,  however,  and  1  will 
present  a  few  stanzas,  from  about  forty  of  which  it  was 
comprised,  as  a  sample  of  its  tone  and  style. 

'Tis  midnight,  dark  and  solemn  silence  reigns. 

In  this  dread  hour  the  guilty  mind  obtains 

No  rest;  but,  like  a  tempest-beaten  bark, 

Tis  tost,  amid  the  waves  of  anxious  thought, 

Whilst  gathering  storms  alarm;  the  mind  thus  fraught 

With  horror,  is  than  midnight's  gloom  more  dark. 

The  night  is  drear  when  o'er  the  darken'd  sky, 
Black  clouds  before  the  driving  tempests  fly, 
And  lightnings  flash  around,  and  thunders  roll, 
And  drear  the  night  of  death,  when  on  the  verge 
Of  untried  worlds,  where  foams  the  angry  surge 
Of  the  dark  rolling  Styx,  appears  the  soul. 

But  Oh  1  when  hope's  last  glimmer  disappears, 
When  blaek  remorse  the  guilty  bosom  tears, 
Then  ev'ry  horror  thought  can  form  lurks  there — 
What  tongue  of  man — what  pen,  though  dipt  in  hell—* 
Can  the  dread  state  of  such  a  being  tell) 
Great  God  I  how  dark  the  midnight  of  despair  I 

How  many  sailors  on  the  rolling  wave 
In  this  dark  hour,  whose  gallant  hearts  might  brave 
All  common  ills,  are  clinging  to  the  shroud.  - 
Whilst  Death  is  stalking  ghastly  through  the  storm. 
Yet  to  the  brave  he  seems  no  frightful  form. 
Who  hope  their  sun  shall  rise  above  the  cloud. 

How  many  Sent'nels  pacing  to  and  fro 
Their  destined  stands,  to  watch  against  the  foe, 
Are  ruminating  on  the  bloody  stage, 
Whilst  many  partners  in  the  past  day's  fight, 
Have  been  forever  hurried  from  their  sight, 
And  wafted  home  beyond  commotion's  rage. 


That  rumbling  noise  which  meets  my  ear  so  late, 
Must  be  the  grating  of  the  churchyard  gate. 
Ah,  yes,  here  comes  the  Sexton,  with  his  key, 

•  Think  of  the  extravagance  of  converting  hell  into  an  ink-stand? 

/ 


OF  JL  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  27 

He'3  been  preparing  a  long  home  for  some 
Poor  child  of  clay,  thus,  when  my  hour  is  come, 
The  grim  man's  spade  will  scratch  a  hole  for  me. 

Thus  God  decrees,  and  his  decrees  are  just, 

From  dust  we  came,  and  we  return  to  dust. 

Life,  like  a  spider's  web  in  the  sun's  ray, 

Presents  its  gilded  rubbish  to  the  eye. 

Till,  like  a  tempest  from  the  low'ring  sky. 

Death  comes,  dread  blast,  and  sweeps  the  web  away. 

»Tis  one  o'clock!  the  wakeful-time  piece  cries, 
From  hill  to  hill  the  direful  echo  flies: 
Time  rolls  along;  n^r  waits  the  king  of  dread 
Ta  parley  with  his  victims,  the  pale  shroud. 
The  winding-sheet,  and  coffin,  cry  aloud, 
♦'Prepare!  ye  soon  must  slumber  with  the  dead!" 

Awake!  ye  slumb'ring  Atheists,  and  resolve 

Who  made  those  countless  shining  worlds  revolve? 

Bv  whom  through  space  were  glaring  comets  hurl'd? 

Who  wing'd  the  spirit,  so  that  it  can  soar 

To  heaven,  and  its  star-spangled  heights  explore? 

You'll  know  when  the  same  hand  shall  burn  the  world. 

Those  blazing  orbs  which  deck  yon  sable  dome, 
Shall  soon  be  quench'd  in  night's  eternal  gloom. 
Yon  moon,  just  peeping  from  behind  a  cloud, 
And  glancing  through  the  shade  a  smile  serene, 
Shall  weep  in  tears  of  blood  amid  that  scene. 
And  night's  dark  mantle  shall  all  nature  shroud. 

The  following  are  the  two  closing  stanzas  of  the  poem, 
the  latter  of  which  might  lead  one  to  suppose  that  I  had, 
agreeably  to  the  old-fashioned  Calvinistic  requisition  of 
the  candidates  for  their  communion,  worked  myself  up 
to  a  willingness  to  be  damned  for  the  glory  of  God. 

Thy  sjuardian  arms,  Jehovah,  shall  defend 
My  midnight  hours,  thou  ever-present  Friend  ; 
And  when  my  heart  is  void  and  dark,  thy  grace 
Shall  cheer  its  gloom,  thy  love  possess  its  void, 
And  when  my  body  is  by  worms  destroyed, 
Then  shall  my  spirit  rest  in  thine  embrace. 

But  should  my  sins  so  manifold,  weigh  down 
My  soul  beneath  thy  just  indignant  frown. 
So  that  I  cannot  praise  thee  with  the  blest. 
Still,  O  my  God!  my  suflT'ring  soul  shall  tell 
That  thou  art  just,  and  from  the  depths  of  hell 
Thy  mercies  count,  and  groan  thy  praise  distrest. 


2%  EXPERIENCE,   LABORS,   AND   TRAVELS. 

Ben  and  I  used  to  unite  in  most  of  our  employments 
and  pastimes;  together  we  rambled  —  bathed  —  sailed  — 
fished — prayed — read — studied  Latin,  and  dipt  into  Greek 
—  dabbled  in  both,  would  more  truly  express  the  fact ; 
we  were  seldom  seen  apart  except  when  he  was  engaged 
in  gallantries,  and  in  that  matter  I  left  him  the  field  to 
himself.  One  lovely  summer  afternoon,  however,  I  set 
out  to  go  a  whortle-berrying  with  two  young  sisters  of 
the  church,  but  meeting  the  father  of  one  of  them,  he 
predicted  a  rain  at  hand,  and  slie^  therefore,  declined 
going;  the  other,  expressing  a  determination  to  persevere, 
I  could  do  no  less  than  accompany  her.  So  we  borrowed 
an  umbrella,  and,  with  each  a  pail  on  our  arm,  on  we 
went.  We  had  hardly  reached  the  swamp  ere  the  clouds 
had  gathered  darkly,  and  the  thunder  began  to  mutter; 
anon  began  to  fall  rain-drops  as  large  as  cherries;  we 
were  convinced  that  an  unusually  heavy  thunder-storm 
was  at  hand,  but,  being  full  two  miles  from  the  village, 
and  nearly  as  far  from  any  house,  we  had  nothing  left  but 
to  make  the  best  of  a  bad  bargain;  so  we  seated  ourselves 
on  a  dry  spot,  and  brought  the  umbrella  over  us  as  near 
to  the  ground  as  possible,  and,  by  sitting  close,  thought 
we  might  thus  escape.  But  the  rain  pattered  on  our  frail 
roof — then  dashed — then  poured — and  the  lurid  lightning 
flashed — flashed — then  darted  down  in  angry  bolts.  As 
our  umbrella  proved  but  a  poor  defence,  and  the  bushes 
around  us  hung  temptingly  full,  we  concluded  to  throw 
the  former  aside  and  go  to  picking,  which  we  did  with  so 
good  a  will  the  rain  pouring  down  on  us  in  torrents  the 
while,  that  by  night  we  succeeded  in  filling  two  com- 
mon sized  water-pails.  We  deferred  our  return  until 
dark,  judging  that  our  drenched  and  bedrabbled  figures 
would  not  show  to  advantage  by  daylight. 

Although  I  mixed  much  with  the  Methodists,  and  pre- 
ferred them  to  all  other  christians  on  most  accounts,  yet 
I  never  could  regard  the  noise  and  rant  of  their  worship 
with  favor;  I  often  tried  to  reason  myself  into  an  acqui- 
^cence  in  it,  but,  if  I  ever  succeeded  in  doing  so,  my 
moral  sense  would  recoil  at  it  in  spite  of  me;  1  found  it 
hard  to  resist  the  persuasion  that  the  faintings,  convul- 
sions, paralyses,  etcetera,  which  frequently  came  under 
my  notice,  were  not  resolvable  into  animal  sympathy,  or 
hysteria.  However,  a  case  fell  under  my  notice,  at  Bris- 
tol, which  puzzled  my  philosophy  not  a  little.     A  most 


OF   A  TTNIVERSALIST'  PREACHER.  t^ 

interesting  girl,  of  about  twelve  years  old,  and  of  a  highly 
respectable  family,  was  several  times  affected  at  our 
meetings  in  a  manner  for  which  I  could  not  on  natural 
principles  account;  she  would  lose  all  consciousness,*  her 
limbs  and  joints  would  become  so  rigid  that  no  one  could 
bend  them;  her  eyes,  meanwhile,  would  be  wide  open 
and  turned  upward,  and  a  beautiful  smile  would  rest  upon 
her  countenance.  This  case  was,  for  some  time,  a  poser 
to  me ;  I  could  not  resolve  it  into  hypocrisy,  for  the  girl 
was  young  and  guileless;  no,  I  was  forced  to  own  that  the 
direct  power  of  God  was  in  the  matter,  and  I  rejoiced  at 
being  compelled  into  that  conclusion — I  really  did — I 
make  the  declaration  with  great  sincerity,  for  my  heart 
has  ever  inclined  to  the  superstitious  extreme  in  religion, 
but  my  phylosophy,  being  of  a  cold  and  scrutinizing  char- 
acter, has  usually  refused  to  bear  it  company.  I  most 
heartily  sympathize  in  the  sentiment  so  prettily  expressed 
by  a  poet  (Woodworth,  if  I  mistake  not)  who  remembers, 
he  says,  when  the  blue  sky  above  him  seemed  heaven 
itself  to  his  fancy,  and  but  a  short  distance  off;  he  con- 
cludes by  saying — 

"  It  was  a  childish  vanity, 

But  still  'tis  little  joy, 
To  think  I'm  farther  now  from  heaven, 

Than  when  I  was  a  boy." 

Alas!  of  how  many  a  pleasing  fallacy  of  our  youth  are 
we  robbed  by  the  soberer  reason  of  our  riper  age!  I  can 
speak  experimentally  on  this  point,  for  immediately  sub- 
sequent to  my  becoming  a  subject  of  religion,  I  rejoiced 
when  the  deep  thunder  uttered  its  voice,  because  my 
Father  seemed  nearer  to  me  then  than  usual.  O!  be 
ever  mine  the  innocency  of  heart  which  will  make  that 
Father's  voice  a  welcome  sound  to  me,  whether  heard  in 
the  startling  thunder-peal  or  in  the  soft  breath  of  evening! 
But  to  return  to  the  case  in  hand.  I  was  walking  one 
day  with  a  brother  of  the  girl,  himself  a  Methodist,  and  a 
student  for  the  ministry — when  he  suddenly  inquired  of 
me,  "  What  think  you  of  those  paroxysms  by  which  my 
sister  is  affected  at  our  meetings?"  "Your  question  sur- 
prises me,*'  said  I,  "  the  girl  is  certainly  not  acting  a  part 
in  these  cases?""  "O,  no;  far  from  it,  I  believe  her  to  be 
perfectly  passive  in  them.""  "  Well,  then,"  I  added,  "what 
can  I  think  of  those  affections,  but  that  they  are  instances 
of  the  direct  influence  of  God's  spirit  on   those  who  sin- 


30  EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

cerely  worship  him?  I  have  persuaded  myself  that  such 
■must  be  the  fact,  in  your  sister's  case  at  least."  "  You  are 
mistaken,  however,"  he  replied;  "the  doctrine  of  direct 
divine  influences  may  be  true — indeed,  as  a  Methodist,  I 
am  bound  to  believe  it  is,  but  my  sisters  case  aifords  it  no 
confirmation;  she  knows  absolutely  nothing  about  religion, 
nor  does  her  every  day  conduct  indicate  any  experimental 
acquaintance  with  it;  she  is,  in  that  respect,  just  like  other 
girls  of  her  age.  Our  physician  pronounces  it  a  nervous 
afl^ection,  and  advises  that  she  be  kept  from  the  class  of 
meetings  which  are  likely  to  affect  her  in  that  way." 
Thus  was  my  faith  in  direct  divine  influences  of  this  kind 
destroyed  almost  as  soon  as  it  was  formed. 

Amongst  those  who  patronised  my  muse  in  Bristol,  was 
Mrs.  Cooper,  v,^ife  of  the  distinguished  tragedian,  whose 
residence  was  among  the  prettiest  of  the  many  pretty 
villas  which  skirt  the  Delaware  at  that  place.  Their 
library — to  the  free  use  of  which  I  was  admitted — com- 
prised the  works  of  the  old  English  Dramatists,  with 
which  I  then,  for  the  first  time,  became  acquainted,  for 
they  had  never,  at  that  date,  been  reprinted  in  this  coun- 
try. Shakspeare  I  had  read  long  before,  but  I  could  not 
understand  him  sufficiently  to  sympathize  in  that  high, 
that  almost  idolatrous  admiration  of  him,  which  is  so 
general  throughout  the  literary  world;  I  better  liked 
Rowe,  Otoway,  Sheridan,  and  other  of  the  more  obvious 
Dramatists;  1  lacked  the  necessary  degree  of  discernment 
to  appreciate  Shakspeare's  master-strokes,  and  to  detect 
those  nice  delineations  of  character  and  passion  in  which, 
chiefly,  consists  his  pre-eminence  as  a  poet;  and  even  now 
— although  I  devour  with  delight  able  criticisms  evolving 
his  beauties — I  confess  myself  unable  to  detect  and  draw 
them  out  for  myself.  This  fact  led  me  to  suspect  that 
in  courting  the  muses  I  had  mistaken  my  vocation,  for 
one  can  hardly  be  a  true  poet  himself,  I  thought,  without 
the  capacity  to  appreciate  whatever  is  exquisitely  beau- 
tiful in  the  poetry  of  others.  I  think  so  still.  Among 
the  pieces  which  commended  me  to  the  patronising  notice 
of  Mrs.  Cooper,  was  the  following  on 

THE   NUPTIAL   TIE. 

Eden  was  pleased  when  the  first  wedded  pair 
Appeared,  to  grace  her  happy  beauteous  scene, 
For  peace,  and  love,  and  innocence  were  there. 
Such  as,  since  their  sad  lapse,  are  scarce,  I  ween. 


OF   A  UNIVERSALIST   PEEACHER,  31 

The  golden  Sun  with  bright  effulgence  beamed, 

The  verdant  landscape  most  delightful  seemed, 

And  sweetly  did  the  balmy  breeze 

Whisper  its  greetings  through  the  trees; 

And  nuptial  sonnets,  clear  and  shrill, 

From  plumaged  choirs,  the  groves  did  fill; 

E'en  angels  smiled  to  see  them  paired, 

And  in  the  gen'ral  pleasure  shared. 
Well  pleased,  Jehovah  viewed  them  from  the  sky, 
Pronounced  them  good,  and  bade  them  multiply. 

Not  Eden's  self  could  half  suffice  to  sooth 

The  lone  man's  bosom,  for  a  pulse  was  there. 

Which  throbbed  for  social  life,  and  nought  could  smooth 

His  sterneT  nature,  but  a  helpmete  fair. 

Man  ne'er  was  made  for  monkish  solitude; 

His  heart  is  callous  till  by  love  subdued: 

And  there  i-s  bliss,  and  there  alone. 

Where  kindred  souls  flow  into  one, 

And  each  the  other"'s  pleasure  shares, 

And  each  the  other"'8  burden  bears: 

Angels  behold  in  scenes  like  this 

Some  semblance  to  their  bowers  of  bliss. 
Hail  nuptial  life?     Jehovah's  word  makes  known. 
That  'tis  not  good  for  man  to  be  alone. 

I  should  be  ungrateful  to  omit  to  name  among  my  pat- 
rons of  that  time,  one  Henry  Lippencott,  a  Quaker,  who 
taught  a  select  school  in  Bristol,  He  would  fain  have 
given  a  morc  ambitious  aim  to  my  literary  attempts, 
thoughit  is  doubtless  well  that  I  rated  myself  much  less 
highly  than  he  was  disposed  to  rate  me.  He  was  an  ex- 
cellent scholar,  and,  not  content  with  warmly  admiring 
such  productions  as  were  to  his  taste,  he  benevolently 
desired  to  encourage  and  pati^onize  the  authors  of  whal 
he  thus  admired.  He  was  an  inveterate  bachelor;  and 
when,  at  his  request,  I  wrote  the  above  lines,  on  the  oc- 
casion of  the  marriage  of  a  particular  friend  of  his,  it  was 
on  the  condition  that  he  would  read  to  the  party,  at  wed- 
ding, the  following  additional  lines,  which  he  was  not  to 
see  until  he  came  to  read  them  to  the  company. 

A  rusty  bachelor  is  devoid  of  all 
The  nobler  feelings,  which  distingui.h  men; 

T'were  well  to  keep  him  in  a  stall. 
With  halter  round  his  neck,  or  in  a  pen, 
With  husks  to  eat:    such  bipeds  are  not  men; 
They're  seldom  any  thing,  but  now  and  then. 

Why  call  a  bachelor  a  man? 
He  lacks  a  rib,  at  least,  nor  can 


32         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

That  needful  member  be  supplied, 
Without  tl)e  taking  of  a  bride. 

A  hai-sh  joke,  this,  at  the  expense  of  my  friend  anp 
patron;  but,  besides  that,  a  bachelor  is  a  proper  subject 
of  quiz  at  all  times,  such  jokes  are  always  admissible  at 
matrimonial  festivities. 

During  the  year  of  my  residence  in  Sweedsboro',  my 
health  failed  exceedingly,  and  my  mind  suffered  a  slight 
impairalion  from  too  intense  an  application  to  study,  in  a 
room  without  a  chimney  for  ventilation,  in  which  I  also 
slept.  The  man  with  whom  I  boarded  there,  was  a  Metho- 
dist, rather  from  preference  than  from  principle,  for  he 
Was  ignorant  of  the  doctrines  of  that  church;  his  morals 
were  unacceptionable,  but  worldly  things  engrossed  his 
care.  There  was  but  one  church  in  the  village,  an  Epis- 
copalian; it  was,  however,  a  large  and  wealthy  one;  its 
B-ector's  name  was  Simon  Wilmer:  it  would  be  well  for 
Christianity  if  all  christian  pastors  were  like  him,  for  he 
was  one  of  the  most  amiable,  simple-hearted,  and  benevo- 
lent of  men;  he  was  of  the  low-school  party  in  his  church, 
and  his  usage  was  to  preach  without  his  gown,  in  the 
lower  desk,  on  Sunday  evenings,  and  to  hold  a  meeting  for 
exhortation  and  prayer  on  a  week-day  evening  of  every 
week.  These  things,  at  that  day,  were  generally  regard- 
ed, by  Episcopalians  as  reprehensible  irregularities.  I 
often  attended  at  Mr.  Wilmer's  church,  and  spoke  and 
prayed  at  his  extra  meetings;  I  also  held  meetings,  some- 
times on  my  own  appointment,  both  in  the  village  and  in 
the  region  about  it.  I  early  became  a  contemner  of  human 
authority  in  matters  of  religion,  and  I  am  so  still,  to  some- 
extent. 

With  the  Methodists  of  that  country  I  used  to  meet 
often;  they  were  a  devout  people,  and  simple-hearted,  but 
illiterate  in  the  last  degree;  and  they  regarded  with  great 
jealousy  any  who  were  above  an  equality  with  them  in  this 
last  respect,  they  seemed  to  entertain  the  notion  that  in- 
telligence, especially  on  the  part  of  young  persons,  was 
incompatible  with  piety.  Once,  at  a  camp-meeting,  I  was 
passing  a  tent  in  which  sat  two  local  preachers,  engaged  in 
a  discussion;  they  beckoned  me  in,  and  submitted  the  point 
in  dispute  to  my  umpirage  :  it  was,  whether  the  Sabbath 
kept  by  christians,  is,  as  to  the  day,  identical  with  that 
enjoined  in  the  decalogue?  I  very  frankly  gave  them  the 
result  of  my  reading  on  the  subject :  I  informed  them  that 


OF   A   UJSIVERSVLIST   PREACHER.  33' 

christians  observed  the  first  day  of  the  week  as  a  Sabbath, 
instead  of  the  seventh.  That  in  the  christian  code  there 
was  no  injunction  as  to  the  observance  of  any  day.  That 
as  Jesus  had  risen  from  the  dead  on  the  first  day  of  the 
week,  the  apostles  and  early  converts  to  Christianity  used 
to  assemble  on  that  day  to  celebrate  the  event  by  the 
breaking  of  bread,  and  other  appropriate  exercises.  That 
such  continued  the  usage  of  the  church  for  a  long  time ; 
and  that,  on  the  strength  of  such  custom,  and  the  fact 
whereon  it  was  founded,  the  generality  of  christians 
thought  themselves  warranted  in  assuming,  that  the  substi- 
tution of  the  first  day  of  the  week  as  a  Sabbath,  for  the 
seventh,  is,  according  to  divine  authority,  obligatory  upon 
all  human  beings. 

The  two  preachers  exchanged  significant  winks  and  nods 
with  each  other,  during  my  remarks,  and  when  I  had  ended, 
one  of  them  fetched  a  long  breath,  and  observed,  "  Young 
man,  it  is  much  to  be  feared  that  your  learning  will  prove 
a  snare  to  your  immortal  soul;  I  dont  wonder,  now,  that 
Father  S.  considers  you  to  be  a  very  dangerous  person." 
So  much  for  my  pains!  And,  then,  my  learning!  God 
knows  I  could  most  conscientiously  plead  guiltless  to  that 
charge.  I  knew  something  more  than  they,  it  is  true;  and, 
to  a  fly,  one  inch  beyond  its  little  circle  of  vision  is  infinite 
space.  The  Father  S.,  referred  to,  was  one  of  the  oddest 
of  odd  old  men;  his  aversion  to  me  arose  from  my  oppo- 
sition to  shouting,  to  which  he  was  extravagantly  given. 
He  was  once  preaching  a  very  interesting  sermon,  for,  be- 
ing very  anecdotal,  he  could,  at  times,  interest  an  audience 
exceedingly,  and  happening  to  utter  the  phrase,  "glory  to 
God,''  just  as  our  eyes  chanced  to  meet,  he  was  thereby 
reminded  of  my  dislike  to  such  ebulitions,  whereupon  his 
face  reddened,  and  stamping  his  foot  with  great  energy, 
whilst  he  cast  at  me  a  glance  of  defiance,  he  exclaimed  : 
**Yes — glory  to  God! — I  icill  say  glory  to  God,  in  spite  of 
the  devil.''''  I  have  heard  that  same  old  man  pray  God  to 
"mount  his  gospel  chariot  and  ride  over  the  devil" — to 
"rout  the  devil  out  of  his  den,  and  burn  his  nest" — to  "plant 
an  arrow  in  the  sinner's  heart  that  neither  the  devil  nor 
his  wife  could  pull  out,"  etc.,  etc.  On  a  certain  occasion 
he  was  discoursing  to  a  very  large  audience  in  the  woods; 
some  of  his  hearers  were  seated  on  rude  benches,  some  in 
wagons  drawn  up  near  the  stand;  not  a  few  young  men  had 
got  upon  to  the  lower  branches  of  trees  near  by.      The 


34'         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

old  man  was  in  one  of  his  good  moods,  and  all  eyes  were 
riveted  on  him;  he,  however,  was  not  so  wholly  engrossed 
by  his  subject  as  to  prevent  his  perceiving  that  a  thunder- 
storm was  gradually  rolling  along  to  the  part  of  the  hea- 
vens directly  over  the  meeting;  taking  care  to  keep  his 
auditors  so  engaged  that  they  should  not  notice  it,  he  slyly 
watched  its  progress,  till,  perceiving  it  just  ready  to  break 
forth,  he  suddenly  threw  up  his  hands  toward  heaven,  and, 
in  the  shrillest  tones  of  his»  peculiarly  shrill  voice,  he 
cried  out,  "Lord!  send  thunder  and  lightning  down  to 
awaken  these  stupid  sinners !"  Scarcely  had  he  uttered 
the  imprecation,  ere  down  flashed  a  lurid  bolt,  and  almost 
simultaneously  therewith  the  thunder  bellowed  forth  an 
almost  deafening  peal.  The  scene  that  ensued  was  ludi- 
crous beyond  description — I  had  my  account  of  it  from 
a  preacher  who  was  present — chairs  and  benches  were 
overturned  ;  the  wagons  were  instantly  vacated  ;  men 
leaped  from  their  perches  on  the  trees,  and  the  whole 
audience,  both  male  and  female,  were  soon  in  full  and 
confused  flight,  as  fast  as  their  feet  would  carry  them. 
The  old  man,  meanwhile,  was  not  slow  to  improve  his 
advantage  over  their  fears,  but,  clapping  his  large  hands, 
and  stamping  with  all  his  might  on  the  loose  floor  of  the 
stand,  he  yelled  after  them  at  the  utmost  reach  of  his 
voice,  "  Run  !  sinners,  run  !  the  devil's  after  you — the 
devil's  after  you — runl  run!"  My  informant  assured  me 
that  several  of  the  auditors  were  converted  by  virtue  of 
that  fright,  and  to  this  day  it  would  be  useless  to  try  to 
convince  many  of  the  good  people  about  there,  that  God 
did  not  send  that  thunder  and  lightning  from  heaven  in 
express  compliance  with  Father  S.'s  petition. 

Father  S.  had  for  his  junior  on  the  circuit  a  Scotchman, 
named  McL. ;  he  was  a  man  of  a  mild  and  amiable  spirit, 
and  an  inquisitive  turn  of  mind;  between  him  and  I  a  very 
close  intimacy  subsisted;  he  was  in  the  habit  of  acquaint- 
ing me  with  much  that  transpired  behind  the  curtain  in 
his  church:  his  own  mind  had  conceived  a  morbid  disgust 
at  his  profession,  on  account  of  those  things,  and  he  more 
than  once  informed  me  that  he  was  strongly  tempted  to  go 
off  into  far-western  wilds,  where  he  should  not  be  known 
as  ever  having  been  a  preacher,  and  thus  to  eschew  the 
whole  concern  forever.  That  same  McL.,  at  the  date  of 
my  last  acquaintance  with  him,  1840,  was  an  Atheist;  made 
such,  beyond  a  doubt,  by  the  bad  conduct  which  is  too,  too 


OF  A  TNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  35 

prevalent  among  christian  professors  of  every  name.  1 
am  far  from  wishing  to  have  it  inferred,  that  evils  of  the 
kind  which  disgusted  him,  are  confined  to  the  Methodist 
church,  or  to  any  number  of  churches,  to  the  exclusion  of 
the  rest;  truth  is,  they  exist  in  all,  nor  do  I  take  it  on  me 
to  decide  in  which  they  exist  in  the  greater  or  in  the  less 
proportion.  Still,  it  betrays,  as  it  seems  to  me,  an  imbe- 
cility of  mind,  to  allow  one's  self  to  be  driven  from  the  an- 
chor-hold of  one's  faith  by  considerations  of  this  kind. 
Shall  I  become  a  monarchist,  or  an  imperialist,  because 
there  are  many  bad  men  in  our  republic?  I  had  better 
first  determine  whether  there  are  not  also  bad  men  in  a 
monarchy,  or  in  an  empire.  And,  as  respects  the  bad 
people  in  churches,  do  they  not  contain  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  good  people,  also?  And,  if  we  leave 
Christianity  for  atheism,  shall  we  find  in  the  sterile  wastes 
thereof  influences  more  purifying,  or  truths  more  so- 
lacing ? 

As,  after  a  year's  residence  in  Sweedsboro',  my  state  of 
mind  and  health  laid  me  under  the  necessity  of  travelling, 
my  friend,  Rev.  Mr.  Wilmer,  persuaded  me  to  accept  an 
agency  for  the  American  Sunday  School  Union,  and  was 
so  kind  as  to  furnish  me  with  letters  of  recommendation 
to  the  principals  of  that  institution  in  New  York  city. 
Accordingly,  winding  up  my  affairs  in  New  Jersey,  I  went 
to  Philadelphia,  and  thence  took  a  steamboat  for  New 
York.  On  my  arrival  at  Trenton,  where,  at  that  time, 
passengers  for  New  York  left  the  boat  for  the  stage,  my 
baggage  was  found  missing.  I  had,  at  Philadelphia,  put  it 
into  the  charge  of  the  person  to  whom  I  supposed  the 
agent  of  the  line  referred  me ;  but  he  proved,  as  I  after- 
wards learned,  the  wrong  one,  and  I  lost,  by  the  mistake, 
every  penny  worth  of  property  I  had  in  the  world,  save 
the  clothes  on  my  back.  As  this  circumstance  occurred 
on  a  Saturday,  1  was  thereby  detained  in  Trenton  over 
the  Sabbath,  and  it  proved  the  means  of  diverting  my  feet 
into  an  entirely  different  path  of  employment.  "  The 
heart  of  a  man  deviseth  his  way,  but  the  Lord  directeth 
his  steps." 

Some  while  previous  to  that  period,  a  Methodist  preach- 
er, named  Samuel  Kennard,  of  the  Kensington  station,  had 
been  excommunicated  by  the  conference,  on  the  charge 
of  having  encouraged  expectations  toward  matrimony,  in 
a  young  lady  of  his  church,  which  he  failed  to  fulfil.    I 


36  EXPERIENCC,  LABORS,  AND  TRTVELS 

take  it  not  on  me  to  say,  whether  the  proceeding  against 
him  was  just  or  unjust;  certain  it  is,  however,  that  many 
thought  him  an  injured  man,  and  seceded  from  the 
Methodist  church  in  consequence  of  his  excission.  Being 
an  ambitious  person,  of  a  very  fair  order  of  talents, 
engaging  manners,  and  a  fervid  style  of  eloquence,  he 
soon  gathered  a  large  society  of  his  own,  who  built  him  a 
good  meeting-house  in  Kensington.  In  the  course  of  a  few 
years  other  preachers  attached  themselves  to  his  estabish- 
ment ;  these  sought  new  fields  of  labor,  whereby  the 
concern  might  branch  out,  and  swell  into  the  dimensions 
of  a  sect,  and  it  really  at  one  time  wore  a  serious  aspect 
to  that  effect;  several  country  congregations  were  estab- 
lished in  connection  therewith;  it  organized  a  conference, 
and  published  a  book  of  discipline.* 

It  happened,  that  on  the  Sabbath  of  my  detention  at 
Trenton,  this  same  Samuel  Kennard  was  to  preach,  and 
form  a  new  society  there;  in  the  forenoon  of  the  day  he 
attended  divine  service  at  the  Episcopal  church,  where  1 
also  happened  to  be  in  attendence ;  he  had  been  previously 
somewhat  acquainted  with  me,  and  nothing  could  have 
been  more  opportune  for  him,  than  his  falling  in  with  me 
again  at  that  particular  time  :  he  knew  me  to  be  a  decided 
foe  to  ecclesiastical  tyranny,  in  all  its  forms,  and  yet  strictly 
orthodox  in  all  the  essentials  of  faith;  he  engaged  me 
therefore  to  accompany  him  to  his  lodgings,  which  was  at 
the  house  of  Francis  Wiggins,  the  projector  and  publisher 
of  the  first  Methodist  paper  ever  issued  in  the  United 
States,  where  he  plied  me  with  all  his  arts  of  persuasion 
to  attach  myself  to  his  interests.  I,  at  length,  yielded,  so 
far  as  to  agree  to  take  under  my  charge  the  new  society 
at  Trenton,  but  I  persisted  in  my  refusal  to  be  recognized 
as  a  minister  in  formal  connection  with  his  establishment. 
He  was  but  too  glad  to  secure  me,  on  any  terms,  to  demur 
at  this  arrangement,  and  the  compact  between  us  was  seal- 
ed by  my  preaching  for  him  that  same  evening.  Such 
were  the  circumstances  under  which,  at  the  termination 
of  my  twenty-third  year,  I  devoted  myself  to  the  avoca- 
tion of  the  Gospel  ministry,  in  which,  to  this  day,  having 
now  passed  the  close  of  my  forty-first,  year  I  have  been 
ever  since  unremittingly  engaged. 

*  It  has  no  existence  at  this  time,  the  very  house  erected  by  the 
parent  society  has  long  since  been  razed  from  its  foundation,  and  a 
feaptist  church  has  been  reared  on  the  scite. 


OF  A   UNIVERSALIST  PEEACHEE  37 

It  is  but  justice  to  myself  to  state,  lest  I  should  seem  to 
have  too  hastily  abandoned  the  Sunday  school  concern, 
that  I  made  some  sacrifice  to  conscience  in  that  matter; 
From  a  conversation  with  an  enlightened  individual  I  be- 
came convinced  that  the  concern  is  a  purely  sectarian  one, 
a  fact  of  which  I  had  not  been  apprised  when  I  agreed  to 
act  as  its  agent;  and  although,  professedly,  it  is  an  union 
of  all  sects  for  an  object  of  common  benevolence,  yet,  in 
reality,  it  embraces  only  those — self-named  evangelical — 
which  maintain,  substantially,  a  common  theological  creed. 
As  an  agent  for  this  institution  I  was  to  have  received 
$400  per  annum,  out  of  which  my  expenses  would  have 
been  comparatively  trifling,  as  my  credentials  would  have 
secured  to  me,  in  almost  every  place  I  should  visit,  a  free 
hospitality  amongst  the  members  of  the  leading  religious 
sects.  As  a  preacher,  I  stipulated  for  iiothing,  and  with  the 
exception  of  my  board,  and  not  always  that,  1  received  about 
what  I  stipulated  for.  How  I  was  to  get  through  life  at  that 
rate  I  troubled  not  myself  to  decide,  nor  even  to  inquire.  I 
am,  at  the  present  day,  but  little  advanced  from  that  state  of 
penny-wise  calculation  and  forecast;  I  have  lived,  never- 
theless, and  reared  a  family,  in  tolerable  comfort  and  good 
credit;  hoio,  he  who  clothes  the  lillies  of  the  field,  and 
feeds  the  ravens,  best  knoweth. 


CHAPTER    III. 

Takes  the  charge  of  a  little  society  at  Trenton,  N.  J. — Is  some- 
what annoyed  by  ranters — Begins  to  itinerate — His  ignorance  on 
practical  subjects — Is  a  latitudinarian  in  ecclesiastical  affairs — 
Visits  northeastern  Pa.,  and  describes  the  Beech  woods  there — 
Portrays  a  certain  class  of  ranting  itinerants — Re-visits  the 
Beech  woods — Some  difficulties  from  getting  lost  there. 

For  some  time  the  affairs  of  my  charge  at  Trenton  got 
along  very  well,  the  congregation  increased,  and  the  soci- 
ety received  accessions  from  time  to  time.  Some  of  the 
brethren  were  of  opinion,  however,  that  the  increase 
would  have  been  much  greater  if  I  had  encouraged  shout- 
ing, and  paid  less  attention  to  gramatical  precision  in  my 
speaking.  Perhaps  they  were  right,  for  rant  and  noise  go 
a  great  way  in  promoting  certain  causes.  Nevertheless, 
for  a  quiet  man,  they  were  pretty  well   satisfied  with  me. 


38         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

Once  in   a  while  a  noisy  preacher  would  pass  along,  and 
then  they  would  have  a  shout.     By  the  way,  I  soon  found 
that  this  class  of  preachers  regarded  me  with  small  favor, 
notwithstanding  that  I  let  them  have  their  own  way,  with- 
'OUt  the  slightest  opposition.     I  once,  at  very  considerable 
pains,  got  up  a  meeting  for  one  of  them  who  was  passing 
through   the  place,  and  paid  him,  besides,  many  friendly 
attentions.    At  my  boarding-house,  previous  to  the  meeting, 
I  mildly  laid  before  him  my  views  on  the  subject;  he  heard 
them  without  a  word  of  objection;  I  even  thought  he  acqui- 
esced in  them;  but  when  he  got  into  the  pulpit,  where  he 
■could  have  the  talk  all  to  himself,  mercy!  how  he  belabored 
me  1     ^'Shout,  brethren!"  said  he,  "dont  be  afraid  of  offend- 
ing the  delicate  sensibilities  of  certain  gentry,  who  oppose 
it  for  fear  it  should  wake  up  some  sinners  who  are   slum- 
bering over  the  pit  of  hell.     Never  mind  such  squeamish 
•christians;  don't  quench  the  spirit  to  please  them,  if  they 
•are  preachers;  if  you  feel  like  jumping,  jump!   If  you  feel 
like   clapping  hands,  clap   away !  If  you  want  to  sing   out 
glory,  out  with  it!    DonH  let  all  hell  stop  you!    If  any  of 
these  still-horn  christians  should  tell  you  that  it  aint  polite, 
andsoforth;  tell  them  you  expect  to  shout  in  heaven — a 
favorite  ai-gument  with  all  ranters — and  that  you'll  shout 
on    the    way  there  as    much  as    you    please,"  etc.,  etc. 
When  I  arose  to  close  the  services,  I  contented  myself  by 
quietly  remarking,  in  reply  to  all  this  farrago,  that,  as  I 
had  been  accustomed  to  regard  heaven  as  at  least,  a  de- 
cent sort  of  place,  I  hoped  we  should  not  throw  ourselves 
heels-over-heads  in  our  worship  there,  as  certain  saints,  of 
both  sexes,  took  a  fancy  to  do  in  this  world.     This  quiet 
retort  so  oifended  my  ranting  friend,  that  he  was  secretly 
my  foe  ever  afterward.     Indeed,  the  ill-will  of  this  sort  of 
saints  is  usually  no  temporary  affair,  it  burns  like  a  smoul- 
dering volcano,  and  is  as  gloomy,   and  as    unending,  as  a 
northeast  storm.    Nevertheless,  with  the  ignorant  in  certain 
churches,  and  a   large    majority   will    range    under  that 
head,  those  who  make  the  most  noise  are  accounted  the  best 
christians,  whilst  the  soberer  sort  are  suspected  oi  having 
•barely  grace  enough  to  save  them. 

Francis  Wiggins,  with  whom  I  domiciliated  in  Trenton, 
had  a  brother  named  Frederick,  about  twenty  years  old, 
who  was  on  a  footing  of  intimacy  with  the  daughter  of  a 
respectable  Methodist  family  of  the  place,  whose  name,  for 
obvious  reasons,  must  not  be  given;   tlie  reader    must  be 


OF   A  UNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  59 

content  to  know  the  young  lady  under  the  name  of  Clara. 
Fred  was  suspected  of  aspiring  to  a  matrimonial  alliance 
with  her,  which,  as  the  old  folks  did  not  approve,  they 
forbid  him  the  house.  In  a  day  or  two  after  this  inter- 
dict, Clara,  with  a  small  parcel  in  her  hand,  appeared  at 
our  door,  and  inquired  for  Fred;  when  he  appeared,  she 
beckoned  him  apart,  and  told  him  that  as  she  was  about  to 
elope,  that  very  hour,  on  his  account,  he  might  do  as  he 
pleased  about  accompanying  her.  This  was  a  sudden  and 
heavy  draft  upon  Fred's  gallantry  ;  but  he  met  it  like  a 
knight-errant,  and  in  a  trice  the  worthy  couple  were  on 
their  way  to  Philadelphia.  They  took  the  less  direct  and 
less  frequented  rout,  along  the  Jersey  shore,  and  reached 
Bordentown  that  night,  where  they  tarried,  and  took  the 
stage  for  Philadelphia  next  morning.  Meanwhile  the 
girl's  father  had  been  apprised  of  the  flight,  and,  prepar- 
ing himself  with  a  warrant  and  a  brace  of  constables,  he 
started  early  next  morning  in  pursuit,  and  overtaking  the 
stage,  near  Burlington,  he  stopped  it,  and  proceeded  to 
drag  his  daughter  out  in  no  gentle  style;  Fred,  fancying 
that  he  must  play  the  hero  in  behalf  of  his  stolen  flower, 
drew  a  pistol,  and  avowed  a  determination  to  shoot  down 
any  man  who  should  lay  violent  hands  on  her;  but  this 
chivalric  display  availed  him  nothing,  he  was  soon 
brought  to  terms,  and  Clara  was  compelled  to  return  with 
her  indignant  sire.     Thus  ends  one  branch  of  this  story. 

On  her  arrival  at  home,  Clara  was  kept  in  durance, 
and  a  strict  watch  maintained  over  her.  But  love  laughs 
at  iron  bars,  they  say,  and,  certes,  most  marvelous  things 
are  told  of  its  feats,  by  poets  and  romancers.  One  even- 
ing Clara  was  missed;  search  was  made  for  her  high  and 
low  without  success;  two  laudanum  phials  were  found  in 
her  chamber,  recently  emptied  of  their  contents;  this 
threw  the  family  into  great  alarm.  Fred  was  sent  for, 
but  he,  poor  fellow!  could  furnish  no  clue  by  which  the 
mystery  of  her  absence  could  be  explained.  ''Oh I  find 
my  child  alive,"  exclaimed  the  father,  "  and  I  consent  to 
your  making  a  wife  of  her  immediately."  Fred,  however, 
was  doubtful,  very^  as  to  her  ever  being  so  found.  She  had 
poisoned  herself  beyond  a  doubt;  nevertheles,  there  was  a 
bare  possibility  that  such  was  not  the  case,  and  if  he  could 
have  a  written  certificate  of  their  consent  to  her  union 
with  him,  he  would  at  once  set  about  a  search  for  her. 
This  was  readily  complied  with,  and  Fred,  the  sly  rogue, 


40         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

with  the  certificate  in  his  pocket,  went  straight  to  where 
he  knew  Clara  to  be  concealed,  and  made  her  his  wife 
without  loss  of  time.  Is  not  fact  often  quite  as  strange 
as  fiction  ?  I  lodged  the  next  night  in  the  same  house 
with  the  young  couple,  who  were  in  high  glee  at  the 
success  of  their  ruse.  Clara  was  a  little  beauty,  and  but 
little  past  fifteen.  Whether  Love  contrived  as  shrewdly 
for  them  after  marriage  as  before,  I  never  learned. 

I  had  been  but  about  four  months  in  Trenton,  ere, 
finding  my  situation  was  eagerly  coveted  by  a  fellow 
preacher,  much  my  senior  in  years,  and  in  clerical  stand- 
ing, I  quietly  retired,  and  left  him  to  the  uncontested 
occupancy  of  it;  the  more  willingly  in  consideration 
of  his  having  a  family,  who,  with  himself,  were  depend- 
ant on  his  profession  for  a  support ;  being  myself 
unencumbered  in  that  way,  I  could  better  afford  to 
strike  into  new  fields  of  labor  of  my  own  opening  ; 
possibly  my  stronger  reason  was,  that  I  had  a  latent 
propensity  for  roving.  And  what  wonder  ?  For  nine 
years  I  had  been  pent  up  in  an  orphan's  asylum,  and 
in  all  that  while  I  had  scarcely  been  a  score  of  times 
beyond  its  precincts.  Then  I  served  a  six  years  appren- 
ticeship, in  Philadelphia,  and  can  aver,  before  God,  that 
no  Southern  slavery,  that  has  fallen  within  my  knowledge, 
was  more  confining  or  oppressive.  For  fifteen  long  years 
of  my  yet  young  life,  then,  I  had  been  a  prisoner.  Will 
it  surprise  the  reader  that  I  have  since  roamed  over  the 
earth  without  either  system  or  limits,  and  find  it  even  now 
an  almost  impossible  thing  to  tether  myself  down  to  any 
assignable  location? 

In  persuance  of  my  determination  to  strike  into  new 
fields,  I  started  out  from  Trenton  on  a  pleasant  Saturday, 
to  go  I  knew  not  whither;  and  that  my  necessity  might 
strengthen  my  resolution,  I  started  without  a  cent  in  my 
pocket.  I  kept  up  the  shore  of  the  Delaware  until,  within 
an  hour  or  two  of  night,  I  found  myself  in  Lambertsville, 
which  is  a  neat  town  on  the  Jersey  side  of  the  river,  and 
is  united  to  Newhope,  a  manufacturing  town  on  the  oppo- 
site shore,  by  a  bridge.  My  first  perplexity,  as  may  well 
be  supposed,  was  to  decide  to  what  individual  in  the  place 
I  should  open  my  business.  Revolving  this  inquiry  I 
walked  up  one  street  and  down  another,  till  I  became  faint 
and  begun  to  rue  the  adventure;  ever  and  anon  I  would 
pause  before  a  house,  or  store,  and  try  to  summon  resolu- 


■    Of  A   UNIVERSALIST    PREACHER.'  41 

tion  to  enter,  but  without  effect.  At  length  I  stoped  in 
front  of  a  ladies'  shoe-shop,  kept  by  James  Bowen.  I  was 
hesitating  whether  to  enter  or  not,  when  I  perceived  that' 
he  was  looking  at  me  through  his  bulk  window;  this  deter- 
mined me,  and  in  1  went.  He  proved  the  very  man  I 
should  have  called  upon.  I  doubt  if  my  mission  would  have 
sped  if  I  had  commenced  operations  in  any  other  quarter. 
He  was  a  deacon  of  the  Baptist  church;  the  only  other 
church  in  the  place,  he  informed  me,  was  a  Presbyterian 
Both  these  churches  were  Calvinistic,  for,  at  that  day, 
Armlnio-Calvinism  had  UDt  come  into  vogue  in  that  region, 
cnrl  the  "doctrines  of  grace"  were  held  by  all  Presbyte- 
rians and  Baptists  in  their  unadulterated  purity.  I  learned 
from  Mr.  Bowen,  that  in  Lambertsville,  these  two  S3cts, 
that  they  might  the  more  effectually  keep  out  all  others, 
united  in  their  worship,  holding  meetings  in  their  respec- 
tive houses  alternately,  and  attending  each  the  meetings 
of  \\i2,  other,  whichever  of  the  two  pastors  ministered. 
Of  course  this  state  of  things  was  anything  but  favorable, 
to  my  chance  of  success  as  a  third  party,  especially  as 
Arminiani-zm,  which  was  then  my  doctrine,  was  a  dreaded 
heresy  by  tnem  both.  "  To-morrow,"  said  Mr.  Bowen, 
*' the  service  will  be  in  our  church;  Mr.  StuU,  a  teacher 
in  the  place,  is  our  pastor,  until  we  can  procure  a  perma- 
nent supply.*'  I  am  anxious  to  oblige  you,  and  if  you 
will  consent  lo  preach  to-night^  it  may  be  that  our  people 
will  consent  to  give  you  a  hearing.  I  will  step  around  and 
see  the  other  deacens  about  it.  What  say  you?"  I  was  too 
happy  to  obtain  an  opening  amongst  them,  on  any  terms, 
not  to  jump  in  at  once  with  his  proposal.  His  request, 
on  my  behalf,  was  readily  complied  with  by  his  fellow 
deacons.  The  bell  called  a  tolerable  congregation  together 
in  the  basement  of  the  church,  among  them  was  the  Eev. 
Mr.  Stull,  who  took  me  home  with  him  after  meeting,  and 
extracted  a  promise  from  me,  before  I  went  to  bed,  that  I 
would  preach  for  him  on  the  morrow;  without  such' 
promise  he  assured  me  he  should  have  to  sit  up  until 
midnight  to  prepare  a  discourse.  On  the  morrow  a  large 
congregation  assembled,  incluiling  the  Presbyterian  clergy- 
man, Ptev.  Mr.  Studdiford.  Iliad  never  addressed  so  large 
and  so  respectable  an  assemblage,  and  although  I  had  had 
the  temerity  to  appear  before  it  without  the  slightest 
preparation — I  never  did,  nor  could,  premeditate  my  ser- 
mons— I  yet  had  the  modesty  to  feel  most  sensibly  the 
4 


42         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

magnitude  of  my  undertaking;  my  very  bones  ached  ; 
my  mouth  parched  with  the  intensity  of  my  mental  suffer- 
ing on  the  occasion;  and  had  it  not  been  that  my  promise 
to  Mr.  Stull  had  prevented  a  preparation  on  his  part,  I 
should  assuredly  have  thrown  back  the  task  into  his  hands; 
as  it  was,  however,  I  had  to  get  along  with  it  as  best  I 
could,  and  I  did  so  without  visible  embarrassment.  It 
would  seem  that  I  satisfied  my  hearers  too,  for  Rev.  Mr. 
Studdiford,  requesting  an  introduction  to  me  at  the  close 
of  the  service,  very  cordially  tendered  me  the  use  of  his 
pulpit,  and  the  hospitalities  of  his  home.  The  Baptists 
assured  me  of  the  like  favor  whenever  it  should  fall  in 
my  way  to  revisit  the  place,  which  I  often  subsequently 
did,  and  made  the  house  of  Mr.  Bowen  my  place  of  stay.* 

Thus  my  virgin  enterprise,  as  a  pioneer,  was  crowned 
with  complete  success,  and  was  marked  by  some  of  those 
strangely  favorable  circumstances  which,  to  the  present 
day,  have  so  signally  attended  me  in  all  my  professional 
undertakings.  My  God,  may  my  heart  never  fail  to  throb 
with  a  quickened  gratitude  to  thee,  as  my  memory  recalls 
these  instances  of  thine  overruling  providence! 

From  Lambertsville  I  took  a  circuitous  route  homeward, 
if  home  I  could  be  said  to  have,  through  the  northern 
part  of  Hopewell  township,  where  I  preached  in  the  Hope- 
well Baptist  meeting-house,  and  established  a  regular 
preaching  station  at  the  house  of  an  excellent  Presby- 
terian family,  named  Howes.  I  enjoyed  many  a  delightful 
season  there,  but  run  much  risk  of  being  spoiled  by  the 
excessive  tenderness  of  the  family  toward  me.  Their 
house,  though  in  the  midst  of  a  populous  neighborhood, 
was  far  from  a  public  road,  and  was  only  accessible  by 
crossing  fields.  I  undertook  to  reach  it  for  a  meeting  one 
tempestuous  evening,  and,  missing  my  way  amid  intersec- 
ting paths,  I  became  completely  bewildered,  and  continued 
to  wander  from  field  to  field  till  toward  ten  o'clock;  one 
while  deceived  by  a  clump  of  trees,  which  in  the  darkness 
I  mistook  for  a  dwelling,  another  while  by  a  barn,  or  a 
haystack.  I  reached  a  house,  at  length,  and  knocked  for 
admission.  "Who's  there?"  demanded  a  gruff  voice 
within.      "Please  to  open  the  door  and  see,"   I  replied, 

*Thi8  gentleman  (whom,  and  his  amiable  lady,  may  "the  Father 
of  the  fatherless"  reward  for  their  many  kindnesses  to  me!)  is  now 
a  Baptist  clergyman,  and  settled  with  a  large  church  in  Bucks 
county,  Pennsylvaaia, 


OF  A  TJNIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  43' 

**  for  you  would  not  know  if  I  should  tell  you."  Again 
and  again,  the  timid  fellow  demanded  to  know  who  I  was, 
and  made  no  offer  to  let  me  in,  until  I  bid  him  look 
through  the  window,  and  satisfy  himself  whether  there 
was  danger  of  betng  murdered  by  a  person  of  my  dimen- 
sions. He  mustered  courage  enough  to  let  me  in  at  length, 
and  just  as  he  did  so,  his  wife  also  entered  after  me,  and 
commenced  telling  that  the  preacher  she  had  been  to  hear 
had  not  arrived,  and  the  meeting  had  been  disappointed. 
I  interrupted  her  to  state  that  I  was  the  person,  and  had 
failed  to  be  present  by  having  lost  my  way.  "  You  the 
preacher!"  she  exclaimed,  as,  holding  the  lantern  toward 
me,  she  scanned  my  boyish  and  beardless  countenance. 
"Lord  help  us,  your  mother  ought  not  to  trust  you  out! 
But  come  along,  if  you  are  the  preacher,  and  we'll  have  a 
meeting  yet."  With  that  she  run  back  to  Howes',  which 
proved  to  be  close  at  hand,  and  in  a  little  while  I  heard 
the  dinner-horn  summoning  back  the  dispersed  congrega- 
tion, who  all  returned,  and,  late  as  it  was,  and  weary  as  I 
was  from  so  long  wandering  and  stumbling  about  in  the 
dark,  the  quick-thoughted  woman's  prediction — "we'll 
have  a  meeting  yet" — was  verified. 

My  next  adventure  was  in  the  southern  part  of  the  same 
township,  where  I  established  stated  preaching  at  the  house 
of  a  Mr.  Marceillus.  A  most  eccentric  character  was  he; 
he  always  kept  a  pail  of  cider  on  the  table  during  meet- 
ing, for  the  accomodation  of  all  who  came:  cider  was  not 
at  that  day  a  proscribed  beverage.  I  know  not  but  he 
used  this  as  a  lure  to  attract  a  larger  attendance.  It 
would  by  no  means  have  answered  to  omit  calling  on  him 
to  pray  at  every  meeting;  an  offense  against  his  self-es- 
teem, would  that  have  been,  not  easily  pardonable  ;  yet, 
when  he  did  pray,  it  was  in  a  style  so  outre,  so  heels 
foremost,  and  so  incoherent,  that  gravity's  self  must,  per 
force,  be  betrayed  out  of  its  decorum.  I  had  good  success 
there,  nevertheless,  despite  the  awkwardness  of  the  hands 
into  which  I  had  fallen  :  my  congregations  were  large, 
and  I  formed  a  society  there,  in  ecclesiastical  union  with 
those  in  Kensington  and  Trenton.  1  must  not  conceal 
the  fact,  however,  that  my  success  there,  as  elsewhere, 
was,  in  large  measure,  owing  to  the  youthfulness  of  my 
appearance.  Why  that  circumstance  should  have  made 
so  much  in  my  favor,  the  reader,  if  such  matters  have 


4^         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

come  at  all  within  his  observation,  will  understand  without 
explanation. 

I  was  much  more  accustomed  to  dwell  on  consolatory 
topics,  in  my  preaching  in  those  days,  than  on  those  more 
affecting  the  fears  of  an  audience,  and  when,  by  appeals 
to  the  conscience,  I  aimed  to  produce  conviction  of  guilt 
and  brokenness  of  heart,  it  was  chiefly  by  mild  remon- 
strance and  pathetic  appeals,  rather  than  by  denuncia- 
tions and  menace.  The  several  hymns  I  composed  in 
those  days  so  embodied  the  spirit  and  tone  of  my  preach- 
ing, that  extracts  therefrom  would  better  convey  a  con- 
ception of  it,  than  would  any  description.  Take  the 
following  from  a  doggerel  effusion  I  composed  to  a  favorite 
tune,  and  which,  for  said  tune's  sake,  no  doubt,  was  for 
some  time  much  sung  amongst  us : — 

Oh,  sinners,  who  know  not  the  Savior, 

Who  know  not  the  love  you  provoke, 
By  sinful,  rebellious  behavior, 

Rejecting  his  mild,  easy  yoke. 
Could  you  see  the  blood  streaming  for  you, 

From  wounds  which  his  dear  body  bore 
When  lost,  and  all  ruined  he  saw  you, 

And  flew  from  the  skies  to  restore. 

Your  sins  reach  the  skies  like  a  mountain, 

And  call  for  the  vengeance  of  God; 
But  Jesus  has  opened  a  fountain, 

To  wash  them  away  with  his  blood. 
Oh,  haste,  with  thy  guilt-wearied  spirit, 

And  plunge  in  this  fountain  so  free — 
Haste!  haste!  or  thou  ne'er  canst  inherit 

The  bliss  that  was  purchased  for  thee. 

Backsliders,  like  Judas,  you've  sold  him, 

Like  Peter  you've  often  denied. 
When  first  you  were  pardoned,  you  told  him. 

You  faithful  would  be  till  you  died. 
Oh,  why  have  you  made  his  wounds  wider — 

Those  wounds  which  the  rugged  nails  tore? 
Oh,  turn!  turn  again,  poor  backslider! 

And  pierce  your  Redeemer  no  more. 

His  love-speaking  eyes  still  reprove  you, 

How  can  your  hard  hearts  not  relent? 
Does  nought  in  that  dying  look  move  you, 

Like  Peter,  to  weep  and  repent? 
Like  the  patriarch's  dove,  you'll  discover 

No  rest  for  your  feet  can  be  found, 
Till  the  ark  of  God's  love  you  recover. 

For  the  billows  of  death  roll  around. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  ■  46 

There's  room  in  that  heart  that  was  pierced, 

Go  mourner,  and  shelter  you  there. 
See,  the  poor  dying  thief  is  released: 

His  sun  had  nigh  set  in  despair. 
Though  gloom  upon  gloom  thickens  o'er  you, 

Full  well  can  his  mercy  break  through, 
He  smites  but  to  heal  and  restore  you, 

And  in  his  blest  image  renew. 

You  weep,  fellow  pi'grim;  why  weep  you? 

Your  spirit,  why  droops  it  so  low? 
That  hand,  in  its  hollow,  will  keep  you, 

Which  plucked  you  from  ruin  and  woe. 
Your  storm-beaten  bark  shall  be  driven, 

Though  billows  around  it  roll  high, 
To  the  harbor  of  safety  in  heaven. 

Your  destined  abode  in  the  sky. 

Farewell  to  this  region  of  sorrow ; 

Our  griefs  may  endure  for  a  night, 
But  jf)y  is  our  portion  to-morrow — 

Sweet  portion  of  endless  delight! 
Already  its  brightness  is  dawning. 

Already  its  beams  shine  around. 
Hail!  brethren,  Oh,  hail  the  blest  morning. 

When  we  shall  with  Jesus  be  crowned. 

My  custom  was,  to  perform  on  foot  the  rounds  of  the 
little  circuit  within  which  I  preached,  and  to  carry  a  book 
or  two  with  me  to  peruse  whenever  I  stoped  to  rest.  For 
reading,  of  all  sorts,  my  intellectual  appetite  was  exhorbi- 
tant,  and,  as  a  consequence,  my  reading  was  far  more  ex- 
tensive than  profitable.  My  education  had  been  but  a 
little  above  what  is  termed  a  good  English  one  ;  I  had,  it 
is  true,  well  committed  the  principles  of  the  Latin  gram- 
mar, and  could  read,  understandingly,  the  New  Testament 
in  that  language  ;  for  this  circumstance,  I  was  indebted  to 
the  kindness  of  Rev.  Mr.  Kennard,  (Presbyterian,)  son-in- 
law  to  the  man  with  whom  I  served  an  apprenticeship : 
who  persisted  in  maintaining  that  my  trade  never  could  he 
of  use  to  me,  for  that  nature,  and  he  believed  Providence 
too,  had  designed  me  for  widely  different  pursuits.  He 
proved  a  true  prophet  in  that;  but  what  would  he  say  to 
Providence  having  designed  me  to  be  a  Universalist  preach- 
er '?  Well,  with  all  my  reading,  it  would  not  have  been 
easy  to  find  an  individual  more  innocent,  than  was  I ;  of  in- 
formation of  a  practical  kind,  God  knows  I  was  among  the 
greenest  of  his  human  subjects. 

One  day,  as  I  sat  reading  under  the  shade  of  a  tree,  a 


.46  EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

respectable-looking  old  gentleman  passed  by  in  a  barouche, 
with  whom,  at  his  invitation,  I  took  a  seat  ;  he  proved,  on 
practical  subjects,  an  uncommonly  intelligent  person,  and, 
being  very  talkative,  he  drew  out  the  fact  of  my  extreme 
ignorance  by  questioning  me  relative  to  whatever  met  our 
observation  as  we  passed  along.  I  hardly  knew  an  apple 
tree  from  an  oak  !  and  oats,  wheat,  rye,  and  the  like,  when 
merely  in  the  blade,  I  took  to  be  grass  of  different  kinds  I 
**  How  do  they  build  the  piers  for  a  bridge  over  the  river  V 
he  asked :  our  way  was  along  the  Delaware  toward  New- 
hope.  "  I  really  don't  know,"  I  replied.  "  Well,  then," 
said  he,  "  I  must  inform  you  that  they  do  it  by  means  of 
coffer-dams — do  you  know  what  coffer-dams  are  ?"  "I  do 
not."  He  described  them.  "  What,"  he  again  asked,  "  do 
they  call  the  stream  that  runs  toward  that  mill  V  I  replied 
that  I  should  call  it  a  stream,  and  nothing  more  ;  but  the 
excavated  bed  in  which  it  ran  I  should  call  a  conduit,  a 
channel,  or  some  such  thing,  but  knew  not  what  it  was 
technically  termed.  "  It  is  a  head-race,"  said  he  ;  "  and 
do  you  know  how  that  water-wheel  is  distinguished  1  You 
see  that  the  water  falls  on  it  perpendicularly."  My  reply 
was  one  of  ignorance,  as  before.  "  It  is  an  over-shot 
wheel,"  he  answered.  "  Why,  my  young  friend,  you  know 
nothing  !  What  books  have  you  there  ?"  I  was  glad  to 
have  him  come  to  the  subject  of  books,  "  I  will  be  even 
with  you  here,  old  gentleman,"  thought  I  ;  so  with  infinite 
self-complacency  I  answered  him,  that  they  were  a  Latin 
Testament,  and  HilPs  Theory  of  the  Earth.  "  Pooh  1 
pooh  !"  he  replied,  rather  querulously,  "  you  may  study 
theories,  and  dead  men's  gibberish,  all  your  life,  and  die  a 
fool  at  last ;  attend  to  facts,  young  man — to  facts, and  you 
will  then  be  learning  something  ;  till  then  you  never  will," 
and  more  to  the  same  effect.  Well,  humiliating  as  this  in- 
terview was  to  my  feelings,  it  proved  of  great  profit  to  me  ; 
it  aroused  my  ambition  ;  it  awakened  my  appetite  for  the 
fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  ;  it  convinced  me  that  the 
mind  may  be  lumbered  up  with  ideas,  and  yet  be  empty 
with  respect  to  useful  information  ;  and  if,  in  any  consider- 
able degree,  I  am  improved  in  regard  to  the  latter,  I  must 
give  much  of  the  credit  therefor  to  the  conversation  with 
that  old  gentleman.  I  have  scarcely  looked  into  a  Latin 
Testament  since :  and  the  slight  attention  I  have  given  to 
Greek,  was  barely  necessary  to  qualify  me  to  meet  the  ar- 
gument against  my  theological  creed  from  that  quarter. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  47 

I  would  not,  of  course,  be  understood  as  opposing  the  study 
of  helles  lettres,  and  the  dead  languages,  by  those  who 
have  ample  leisure  for  it,  as  well  as  for  the  acquisition  of 
learning  of  a  more  available  kind;  but  such  is  not  apt  to  be 
the  case  with  persons  who  have  an  education  to  acquire  at 
the  same  time  that  they  have  a  maintenance  to  earn. 

I  was  a  latitudinarian  as  to  matters  of  ecclesiastical  or- 
ganization and  government.  I  utterly  discarded  all  tram- 
mels of  the  sort.  If  any  should  surmise,  that  my  objec- 
tion arose  from  a  disposition  to  do  wrong  without  the  lia- 
bility of  being  called  to  an  account  therefor,  this  is  my 
answer;  that  in  the  seventeen  years  of  my  ministry,  I  have 
extended  my  labors  over  a  very  wide  region  ;  I  have  been 
in  all  the  situations,  and  subject  to  all  the  temptations,  inci- 
dental to  such  a  course  of  life.  Is  there  an  individual, 
among  all  the  ten  thousands  who  have  thus  come  to  know 
me,  who  will  lay  aught  to  my  charge  ?  aught,  I  say,  not 
with  respect  to  those  things,  merely,  which  the  laws  forbid, 
but  aught  affecting  my  character  in  any  discreditable  way  ? 
I  thank  my  God,  that  there  is  not  one  of  them  whom  I 
could  not  look  in  the  face  again  with  entire  self-compla- 
cency. It  was  not,  then,  that  I  might  pervert  my  liberty 
to  bad  ends,  that  I  spurned  ecclesiastical  control.  I  did  it 
on  conscientious  grounds ;  whether  they  were  tenable  or  not, 
I  will  not  now  discuss.  This  position,  moreover,  was  one 
which,  to  maintain,  involved  no  small  self-denial ;  it  left  me 
without  a  claim  on  any  denomination  for  support,  and  from 
this  cause,  wants  pressed  sorely  upon  me  betimes  ;  with 
Paul,  I  knew  not  only  "  how  to  abound,"  but  also  "  how  to 
be  empty."  I  have  chewed  the  bark  of  trees  to  appease 
the  knawings  of  hunger  ;  I  have  made  the  bare  ground  my 
bed  on  more  than  one  chilly  night  ;  I  have  tied  my  clothes 
into  a  bundle,  and,  strapping  them  on  my  back  with  my 
suspenders,  have  swam  across  the  Delaware,  for  lack  of 
means  to  pay  for  a  ferryage.  "  The  God  and  Father  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  blessed  for  evermore,  know- 
eth  that  I  lie  not." 

Sometimes  I  was  accompanied  by  other  preachers  in  my 
rounds.  An  old  gentleman  named  Hance,  was  several  times 
my  companion  ;  we  once  had  an  old  horse,  between  us, 
which  we  rode  alternately.  The  poor  brute  had  a  falling- 
down  propensity,  which  was  not  the  safest  thing  for  its  own 
neck,  nor  for  that  of  the  rider.  "Daddy  Hance"  and  I, 
have  seen  some  good   times  together  at  Trenton,  Hope- 


-4.8  EXPERIENCE,  LABOHS,  AST)   TBAVELS 

well,  Newhope,  on  the  mountain  intermediate  which 
skirts  the  Delaware  on  the  Jersey  share,  at  the  Bear  Tav- 
ern, at  Attleboro,  and  elsewhere.*  Another  companion 
in  travel  was  a  young  man  named  Worthington :  we  once 
stayed  over  night  at  the  residence  ©f  a  widow,  with  whom 
he  was  intimately  acquainted  ;  she  had  two  daughters, 
young  women,  whose  sleeping  apartment  was  directly  over 
the  one  in  which  we  were  put  to  lodge.  It  happened,  that 
.  early  in  the  night,  I  became  affected  with  night-mare  in 
my  sleep,  and  bawled  out  lustily,  under  the  impression  that 
.somebody  was  wrenching  my  arm  off  at  the  shoulder  j  the 
girls  heard'  the  noise,  and,  divining  the  cause,  called  out  to 
my  bed-fellow  to  wake  me  ;  he,  however,  was  in  so  sound 
a  sleep  that  they  had  to  knock  on  the  floor,  and  call  with 
all  their  might,  ere  they  could  arouse  him.  Awakening 
'.  amidst  this  din — I  hallooing  in  the  bed,  and  the  girls  thump- 
ing and  screaming  to  him  from  above— Worthington  sprang 
up  in  great  alarm,  and,  without  waiting  to  pick  up  an  arti- 
cle of  his  clothes,  made  for  the  door,  crying  out,  fire  !  fire  ! 
as  loud  as  he  could  bawl.  John  S.Christine,  who  is  yet  a 
"Methodist  minister,  living  in  Philadelphia,  was  another  of 
the  Kennard  fraternity  of  preachers.  We  were  once  to 
have  held  a  two-days  meeting  together  in  a  woods  near  Ad- 
disville,  Bucks  county  :  circumstances  prevented  his  attend- 
ance ;  a  very  large  audience  came  together,  to  whom, 
during  the  two  days,  I  preached  six  times — for  full  an  hour 
each  tim.e — raised,  and  principally  sustained,  all  the  sing- 
ing, and  put  up  a  prayer  before  and  after  each  sermon; 
this,  too,  in  the  woods,  and  to  full  a  thousand  persons.  Yet 
I  can  afhrm  truly,  that  I  felt  no  more  fatigued  at  the  end  of 
the  meeting  than  I  was  at  the  beginning.  Speaking,  in- 
deed, cost  me  no  exertion  of  a  kind  to  induce  fatigue,  ex- 
cept in  places  which  conveyed  the  sound  badly;  nor  does  it 
yet.  I  mean  public  speaking  ;  for,  strange  to  tell,  a  brisk 
conversation  affects  me  differently. 

Near  the  close  of  the  year  1826,  I  was  induced  to  visit 
the  Beech  Woods,  in  the  north-eastern  section  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. 1  journeyed  thither,  from  Philadelphia,  on  foot,  ta- 
king the  river  route  through  Newhope,  Easton,  and  Strouds- 
burg.  It  was  near  Christmas  when  I  started,  yet  no  snow 
had  fallen  ;  but,  as  I  proceeded  northerly,  I  found  the 
ground  to  be  covered  with  it,  and  its  depth  increased  with 

*He  is  yet  a  preacher,  in  conrexion  with  the  New  Lights. 


OF   A    ITNIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  49 

each  day's  progress  in  that  direction.  About  twenty  miles 
from  Newhope,  I  found  a  neighborhood  of  very  intelligent 
and  liberal-minded  people,  and  with  them  I  tarried  and 
preached  on  the  Sabbath.  Some  Hicksite  Friends  there  had 
married  Methodist  wives,  and  the  amalgamation  had  pro- 
ven beneficial  in  its  influence  on  both  parties;  the  formal 
coldness  of  the  one  had  tempered  the  extravagant  heat  of 
the  other,  and  had  itself  been  warmed  into  some  life  and 
feeling  in  return.  I  often,  subsequently,  visited  that  neigh- 
borhood, and  always  was  liberally  received,  and  my  meet- 
ings numerously  attended.  The  Quaker  part  of  the  com- 
munity were  pleased  with  my  liberality  of  tone,  and  my 
rejection  of  pay  for  preaching.  The  Methodist  part,  with 
the  identity  of  my  faith  and  modes  of  worship  with  their 
own;  and,beingwholly  unsectarian,  I  excited  the  jealousy 
of  neither,  for  I  plead  for  no  party  in  particular,  but 
against  the  principle  of  party,  in  the  general.  I  termed 
this  the  Williams'  Settlement,  from  the  prevalence 
therein  of  families  of  that  name. 

My  next  stop  was  at  Easton,  a  town  containing  about  six 
thousand  inhabitants,  much  the  larger  part  of  whom  are 
Germans;  and  the  country  around,  to  a  wide  extent,  is  set- 
tled with  farmers  of  the  same  nation.  It  is  a  very  fertile 
and  romantically  beautiful  region,  and  the  town  itself  can 
have  few  rivals,  in  the  United  States,  in  the  wildness  and 
picturesqueness  of  its  situation.  It  occupies  a  low  delta, 
formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Lehigh  and  Delaware  rivers, 
into  the  latter  of  which,  an  exquisitely  romantic  little 
stream,  the  Bushkill,  debouches  at  the  same  place.  There 
is  great  variety  in  the  limestone  bluffs  and  slopes  by  which 
Easton  is  environed  ;  on  one  of  these  bluffs  is  perched  the 
Lafayette  College,  which  overlooks  the  town  from  a  height 
of  two  hundred  feet.  Methodism  had  then  first  begun  to 
be  proclaimed  in  Easton,  and  not  small  was  the  opposition 
it  had  to  encounter.  An  old  man  named  Waggoner,  whose 
son  was  one  of  its  earliest  converts,  on  learning  that  a 
Methodist  preacher  had  been  in  his  house,  left  his  bed  in 
the  night,  and  roamed  half  naked  through  the  streets  until 
morning,  in  a  state  of  pious  horror,  bordering  on  delirium. 
The  young  man  subsequently  took  me  to  see  his  father, 
but  particularly  enjoined  me  to  make  no  disclosure  of  my 
profession.  The  father  was  sitting  in  his  front  parlor,  at 
a  very  large  tub,  filled  with  corn,  which  he  was  shelling  by 
hand.     He  was  said  to  be  worth  $100,000  1     He  strongly 


50         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

reminded  me  of  Mr.  Muckrake,  in  the  Pilgrim's  Progress. 
How  pitiable  a  sight  was  that!  an  old  man,  tottering  on 
the  brink  of  the  grave,  sacrificing  his  own  and  his  family's 
comfort,  to  an  insatiable  desire  for  acquisition. 

Foremost  among  the  Methodists  of  Easton,  was  one 
Hugh  R.,  a  man  whose  wild  and  turbulent  extravagance 
would  justify  a  strong  degree  of  opposition  to  any  cause 
with  which  he  was  identified.  He  courted  opposition.  In- 
deed, he  seemed  to  think  there  was  a  particular  merit  in 
being  persecuted.  Among  fanatics  this  opinion  is  a  preva- 
lent one.  Hugh  was  a  lawyer,  and  brother  to  the  then 
presiding  Judge  of  that  district.  He  had  formerly  been  a 
Methodist  preacher,  but  had — as  the  phrase  goes  amongst 
that  people — "  lost  his  religion."  Being  now  re-washed, 
he  was  cleaner  than  ever  ;  so  immaculate  was  he,  indeed, 
that  it  was  quite  awful  for  common  mortals  to  go  into  his 
presence;  they  must  necessarily  undergo,  what  Milton 
describes  the  arch-enemy  to  have  experienced  when  re 
buked  by  the  angel — 

"  Abashed  the  devil  stood,  and  felt 
How  awful  goodness  is,  and  saw 
Virtue  in  its  true  shape  how " 

But  no,  I  cannot  go  on  with  the  quotation,  for,  instead 
of  being  "  lovely,"  which  is  the  word  wanting  to  com- 
plete the  passage,  Hugh's  virtue  was  nearly  as  insuffer- 
ably disagreeable  as  vice  itself.  It  was  morose,  captious, 
denunciatory,  inquisitorial ;  in  short,  it  was  all  that  is  com- 
prehended in  the  term  asceticism.  He  slept  on  straw,  on 
his  office  floor.  He  stinted  himself  to  a  bread-and-mo- 
lasses-and-water-diet.  He  prayed,  secretly,  three  times  a 
day,  loud  enough  to  be  heard  all  over  the  town,  etc.  To 
be  hated  by  sinners  he  deemed  an  absolutely  essential  part 
of  the  christian  character  ;  and  to  that  source  he  very 
self-complacently  charged  all  the  ill-will  which  his  extra- 
vagancies drew  upon  himself  It  puzzled  him  to  reconcile, 
with  my  piety,  the  fact  of  all  classes  treating  me  with  great 
politeness.  The  Sheriff  granted  me  the  use  of  the  Court 
House  for  my  meetings;  a  Lutheran  minister  tendered  me 
his  church  for  the  same  object;  different  classes  of  chris- 
tians invited  me  to  their  homes.  "  Ah  !  young  man," 
groaned  out  poor  Hugh,  "  the  devil  is  baiting  his  hook  for 
you."  "But,  Mr.  R."  I  remonstrated,  "lam  a  stranger 
to  all  here.  I  come  to  them  under  the  profession  of  a 
christian  minister,  and  they  treat  me  as  such.     If  I  am  not 


OF   A  ITNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  51 

what  I  seem,  their  courtesy  towards  me,  at  least,  must  be 
set  down  to  the  score  of  their  respect  for  what  I  seem  to 
be,  for,  allowing  I  am  a  bad  man  under  this  disguise,  how 
can  they  possibly  know  that  ?"  "  The  devil  could  tell  them^ 
young  man,"  was  his  reply,  in  a  raised  voice,  which,  like 
hell's  gates,  in  Milton,  "  grated  harsh  thunder."  Alas  !  for 
Hugh,  in  spite  of  all  his  austerities,  he  shortly  afterwards 
"  returned  to  his  vomit  again,"  and  to  his  "  wallowing  in 
the  mire,"  a  consequence  not  unapt  to  follow  the  being 
"  righteous  over  much."  It  is  but  just  to  say,  that  Hugh's 
character  was  not  that  of  the  Easton  Methodists  in  gen- 
eral, for  among  them  were  some  very  amiable  persons 
of  both  sexes. 

From  Easton  I  obtained  a  sleigh-ride  to  Stroudsburg, 
passing  through  the  Delaware  Water  Gap,  where  the 
mountain  yawns  to  a  depth  of  more  than  a  thousand  feet, 
and  the  chasm  affords  a  passage  to  the  river  ;  the  rocky 
and  jagged  acclivities  are  so  abrupt  as  to  be  nearly  per- 
pendicular in  places.  I  think  that  this  tremendous  gorge 
is  but  little  inferior,  in  the  wild  grandeur  of  its  scenery,  to 
that  at  Harper's  Ferry,  in  Virginia,  which  Jefferson  says 
would  compensate  for  a  visit  across  the  Atlantic.  Strouds- 
burg is  but  a  few  miles  from  the  Gap,  and  is  a  pleasant 
and  picturesque  village.  I  tarried  over  night  with  an 
elderly  Methodist  minister,  Mr.  C,  to  whom  I  had  borne  a 
letter  of  introduction.  He  had  married  a  Quaker  woman, 
of  some  property,  and  was  living  much  at  his  ease  in  his 
mountain  home.  He  was  a  companionable  old  gentleman, 
and  related  me  the  following  incident :  Preaching  once, 
at  a  Quarterly  Meeting,  he  strongly  urged  on  the  local 
preachers,  who  where  present,  the  duty  of  branching  out 
in  their  labors.  His  text  was,  Mark  xvi.  20,  "  And  they 
went  forth,  and  preached  everywhere,  the  Lord  working 
with  them,  and  confirming  the  word  with  signs  following." 
Hence,  he  insisted,  that  preachers  must  not  confine  their 
labors  to  their  particular  localities,  but  must  go  forth,  etc 
A  blunt  old  minister  present,  who  was  also  a  great  stickler 
for  a  travelling  ministry,  bawled  out  in  the  midst  of  the 
sermon,  "  Lord,  open  brother  C.'s  eyes,  to  see  how  the 
text  hits  himself,  and  smoke  him  out  of  the  mountain!''''  The 
old  gentleman  had  much  to  say  against  the  government  of 
his  church  ;  he  pronounced  it  unscriptural  and  oppressive. 
He,  himself,  who  had  spent  much  of  his  life  in  its  service, 
was  now,  in  his  old  age,  denied  an  admission  into  the  tra- 


m 


EXPERIENCE^  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 


veling  connexion — which  would  entitle  him  to  a  pecuniary 
compensation — and  could  only  act  in  the  capacity  of  a 
'local  preacher.  It  was  high  time,  he  said,  that  so  tyran- 
nical an  establishment  should  be  reformed,  etc.* 

Proceeding  northerly  from  Stroudsburg,  the  country  be- 
came more  and  more  wild,  as  I  advanced.  I  soon  found 
myself  in  the  most  desolate  barrens  conceivable,  where,  as 
I  occasionally  stopped  to  look  around  me  from  the  summit 
of  a  hill,  nothing  met  the  view  but  a  seemingly  intermi- 
nable expanse  of  sterility.  At  length  I  got  into  the  hea- 
vily timbered  region  termed  the  Beech  Woods;  and  in  all 
my  previous  conceptions  of  the  wild  and  the  gloomy  in 
nature,  I  had  never  pictured  to  myself  so  huge,  dense, 
savage,  and  rock-bestrewn  a  wilderness  as  then  spread 
around  me.  I  thought  it  impossible,  as  I  endeavored  to 
look  into  its  deep  shades  almost  impervious  to  the  vision, 
that  any  human  being  could  inhabit  them.  The  novelty 
of  the  scene  filled  me  with  a  wild  and  pleased  excitement, 
under  the  influence  of  which  I  could  fancy  I  heard  the 
howl  of  the  wolf,  or  the  scream  of  the  panther.  My  first 
night  in  those  woods  was  spent  at  Howe's  tavern,  on  the 
*'  North  and  South  turnpike,"  where,  according  to  the  cus- 
tom of  new  countries,  some  dozen  or  more,  of  both  sexes, 
were  lodged  in  one  sleeping-apartment,  and  that  the  bar- 
room. I  there  begun  to  obtain  insights  into  human  life  in 
its  rude  forms,  corresponding  to  the  savageness  of  sur- 
rounding nature.  Leaving  the  turnpike  next  morning,  I 
struck  into  a  private  path,  which,  after  following  for  some 
three  miles,  brought  me  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Bortree,  to 
whom — from  his  son  in  Philadelphia — I  had  a  letter  of  in- 
troduction. I  subsequently  found,  that  a  stranger,  without 
such  passport,  is  abundantly  welcome  at  every  cabin 
throughout  those  woods.  That  same  evening  I  went,  with 
the  family  in  their  sleigh,  to  hear  the  circuit  preacher. 
The  ride  over  the  snow,  amidst  the  overarching  hemlocks, 
and  the  passing  of  groups  on  foot  who  were  lighting  their 
way  with  straw  torches,  was  a  novelty  of  novelties  to  me. 

*  Selt-interest  is  an  eye-salve  of  marvelous  properties.  Two 
years  afterwards  I  was  again  Mr.  C.'s  guest  for  a  night.  He  had, 
meanwhile,  obtained  his  wish  with  regard  to  admission  into  the 
traveling  connexion.  He  had  even — if  T  mistake  not — been  honored 
with  a  Presiding  Eldership.  He  could  now  see  no  defect  in  the 
government  of  his  church  ;  none  whatever;  it  was  as  nearly  per- 
fect as  things  mundane  could  be. 


, ,  .yg,,^j^,.  OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  53 

When  arrived  at  the  house,  I  was  equally  surprised  at  the 
company  assembled  for  meeting;  most  of  the  men  were 
there  with  Otter  skin  caps  on,  and  whips  in  their  hands. 
The  women  were  generally  bonnetless,  with  shawls  or 
blankets  over  their  heads,  and  a  far  larger  sprinkling  of 
children  and  dogs  helped  to  make  up  the  congregation 
than  I  had  been  accustomed  to  witness  in  a  house  of  wor- 
ship. Bewildered  with  these  novellies,  I  forgot  to  notice 
what  the  preacher  was  doing,  until  the  words,  "  I  am  told 
there  is  a  preacher  here  from  Philadelphia,"  fell  confu- 
sedly on  my  ear.  I  was  wondering  what  this  could  mean, 
when,  to  my  increased  surprise,  the  man  whom  I  had  ac- 
companied to  the  meeting,  arose,  and  gave  me  a  formal 
introduction  to  the  preacher  in  the  hearing  of  all  the  con- 
gregation !  After  this  polite  ceremonial,  the  clergyman 
requested  me — on  a  plea  of  ill-health — to  hold  forth  in  his 
stead;  and  when,  in  compliance,  1  stepped  up  to  the  stand 
and  divested  myself  of  a  shaggy  bear-skin  over  coat,  I 
looked  so  slender  and  boy-like,  that  I  soon  perceived  my- 
self to  be  as  much  of  a  curiosity  to  the  woods  folks  as  they 
were  to  me.  The  subject  of  my  discourse  was  that  of 
Paul's  preaching  before  Felix,  on  "  righteousness,  temper- 
ance, and  judgment  to  come."  I  explained  the  "judg- 
ment to  come,"  as  pertaining  to  the  future  life,  as  a  matter 
of  course — as  the  most  of  orthodox  expositors  do — and  for 
which  they  have  the  high  and  ample  authority  of  their 
own  opinion,  backed  by  the  consideration  that  Felix  could 
not  possible/  have  been  made  to  tremble  in  apprehension  of 
an  earthli/  judgment;  certainly  not.  And  then, moreover, 
a  judgment  of  retribution  in  this  world,  even  though/w^wr^, 
could  not  by  possibility  be  a  "  judgment  to  come.''''  Thus  the 
matter  was  settled  past  dispute. 

With  much  effort  and  watchfulness  did  I  cultivate,  in 
those  days,  a  solemnity  of  feeling,  for  from  nature  I  pos- 
sessed a  buoyant  heart,  and  a  child-like  playfulness  of 
disposition,  which,  by  evangelical  christians,  are  held  in- 
compatable  with  a  true  state  of  grace.  I  used  therefore, 
when  alone,  to  take  myself  seriously  to  task  for  every 
ebulition  of  mirthfulness  in  which  I  indulged  in  society. 
I  used  to  pray,  how  ardently,  God  knows,  for  christian  j?er- 
fection,  which  several  persons  of  my  acquaintance  pro- 
fessed to  have  attained,  and  by  virtue  of  which,  some  of 
them  had  lived,  for  years  together,  without  sinning.  A 
married  lady  of  my  acquaintance,  in  Philadelphia,  whose 


54         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

house  I  much  frequented,  had  told  me,  in  a  solemn  conver- 
sation, that  this  exhuberance  of  spirits  was  my  besetting 
sin,  and  that  by  means  of  it  the  devil  might  yet  ensnare 
me  to  my  eternal  ruin.  "  You  have  been  converted,''''  said 
she;  "of  that  I  am  certain;  but  conversion  wont  do  in 
your  case  ;  you  must  be  sanctified.  I  know  by  experience 
that  nothing  but  this  will  give  you  the  solemnity  of  char- 
acter you  need."  But,  then,  how  to  get  this  sanctification 
was  the  difficulty.  It  required  a  particular  knack,  which  I 
did  not  possess.  It  was  not  to  be  gradually  acquired,  but 
to  come  on  one,  in  a  heap,  as  the  new  birth  is  said  to  do. 
Some  preachers  were  said  to  be  curiously  expert  in  con- 
ducting persons  into  the  possession  of  this  degree  in  grace  ; 
but,  for  my  part,  I  never  could  get  sufficiently  up  to  it  to 
attain  it  myself.  It  was  among  the  "  things  past  finding 
out,"  to  me. 

I  remained  in  the  woods  during  the  residue  of  the  win- 
ter, and  till  the  middle  of  the  spring  following.  My  custom 
was  to  preach  on  several  evenings  of  the  week,  as  well  as 
on  the  Sabbath.  What  my  preaching  was  worth,  I  know 
not,  but  I  can  give  the  exact  sum,  in  cyphers,  that  I  got 
for  it.  I  was,  however,  little  affected  by  considerations  of 
that  sort.  I  even  rejected  contributions  when  offered  me, 
and  yet  I  had  no  known  earthly  resource  I  God  help  me! 
I  was  very  green.  I  enjoyed  in  those  woods,  however, 
some  delightful  seasons  ;  some  draughts,  I  may  term  them, 
from  the  chalice  of  heavenly  bliss:  many  an  hour  have  I 
sat  reading  my  bible  by  the  side  of  some  brawling  brook, 
or  on  some  log  in  the  silent  depths  of  the  forrest  ;  and  in 
such  situations,  the  soul  can  enjoy  more  pure  communion 
with  the  Creator,  than  is  usually  experienced  amidst  the 
din  of  populous  life.  It  was  a  favorite  pastime  with  me  to 
trace  the  courses  of  the  rivulets,  and  in  that  region  these 
are  numerous,  and  most  poetically  pellucid  and  musical  in 
their  flow.  But  to  trace  them,  was  not — let  me  apprise 
you,  reader — to  glide  unobstructedly  along  grassy  banks, 
or  a  level  pebbly  beach  ;  far  from  it ;  one  had  to  climb 
over  prostrate  trees  ;  jump  from  rock  to  rock  ;  pick  away 
through  patches  of  bog-marsh,  and  break  through  briars. 
And  if,  for  all  this  trouble,  the  companionship  of  birds  and 
nimble-footed  squirrels,  and  the  now  and  then  appearance 
of  a  deer,  were  not  felt  to  be  a  sufficient  compensation, 
why,  doubtless,  it  was  the  fault  of  a  spirit  out  of  harmony 
with  nature.     To  me,  who  had  been  a  penned  up  prisoner 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  55 

for  the  larger  part  of  my  life,  the  scenes  and  sounds,  the 
very  odours,  even,  of  those  sylvan  solitudes,  afforded  a  de- 
light which  it  might  seem  extravagant  to  describe. 

The  summer  and  fall  of  1827,  I  spent  partly  in  Ken- 
sington, partly  in  Trenton,  and  partly  in  various  parts  of 
Bucks  county.  I  also,  occasionally,  visited  Lambertsville, 
Hopewell,  and  other  places  in  that  region.  I  formed  ac- 
quaintance with  several  preachers  who  occupied  my  own 
ground  relative  to  ecclesiastical  organization  ;  these  were 
generally  denominated  Gatesites,  from  one  Theophilua 
Gates,  of  Philadelphia,  who  published  a  periodical  called 
the  Reformer.  It  went  against  all  forms  of  church  gov- 
ernment ;  all  ecclesiastical  compacts  ;  against  the  pay- 
ing of  clergymen,  etc.;  and  this  it  did  on  purely  conscien- 
tious principles;  for  Gates,  I  cannot  doubt,  was  a  very 
sincere  christian.  I  can  assert  the  same,  with  far  less  con- 
fidence, of  a  majority  of  those  preachers  I  have  alluded  to, 
who  professed  to  hold  the  same  views.  Generally,  they 
were  shrewd  but  very  illiterate  men,  exceedingly  wise  in 
regard  to  the  Revelations,  and  other  mysterious  parts  of 
the  sacred  volume — they  "  understood  all  mysteries'' — the 
most  part  of  which  they  interpreted  as  bearing  against  the 
ecclesiastical  organizations  of  Christendom.  These  were 
the  "Whore  of  Babylon;"  the  "Beast;"  the  "False  Pro- 
phet;" and  all  else  that  is  opprobrious.  These  men-of-all- 
knowledge  were  usually  wretched  shabbaroons  in  person  ; 
they  generally  came  to  us,  out  at  the  elbows,  and  out  of 
shirts  ;  but,  as  they  could  rant  to  perfection,  and  teach  us 
some  new  pieces  of  doggerell  psalmody,  or  new  tunes  for 
our  old  pieces,  we  usually  welcomed  them  on  the  score  of 
these  rare  qualifications;  and  during  their  stay  the  sisters 
would  mend  them  up  and  replenish  their  stock  of  linen. 
They  would  then  leave  us,  for  the  Lord  knows  where,  and 
a  new  batch  would  swarm  in  from  the  Lord  knows  whence. 
Not  unfrequently  these  prodigies  would  profess  to  have 
been  supernaturally  directed  to  visit  us  for  our  edification 
and  comfort.  One  of  these,  by  the  name  of  Payne,  used 
to  preach  on  horseback,  and,  for  the  purpose  of  summoning 
a  congregation  about  him,  he  carried  a  bugle  in  his  girdle. 
He  was  subsequently  murdered  by  some  Indians  in  the  far 
west,  as  the  papers  reported  ;  whether  it  was  that  his  reli- 
gion was  disrelished  by  the  Indians,  or  that  their  cupidity 
was  excited  by  his  bugle  and  his  horse,  the  account  said 
not. 


56'  EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

■  There  once  came  to  us  a  personage  who  called  himself 
Yates.  He  had,  he  said,  been  long  seeking  among  the 
sects,  for  a  pure  and  unadulterated  christian  people,  but 
finding  none,  he  had  become  grieved  in  spirit,  and  begun 
to  fear  that,  like  Elijah  of  old,  he  was  alone  as  a  true 
worshiper  of  God,  among  the  tens  of  thousands  who  were 
bowing  the  knee  to  Baal  ;  but  in  a  dream,  or  vision,  or 
some  such  thing,  the  Lord  told  him  to  direct  his  steps  to- 
wards Kensington,  and  there  he  would  find  a  society  of 
Simon  Pures,  like  himself.  Poor  Mr.  Kennard  placed  such 
implicit  faith  in  this  account  that  he  received  Yates  almost 
as  one  sent  to  him  from  heaven.  He  referred  me  to  him 
as  a  pattern  of  sanctity,  and  recommended  me  to  model 
my  christian  character  by  his  ;  "  for,"  said  he,  "  he  is  em- 
phatically a  man  of  prayer  ;  when  he  walks  the  floor  he  is 
constantly  singing  hymns,  with  his  eyes  half  closed,  or  roll- 
ed up  in  silent  devotion,"  etc.  "  He  7nay  be  all  he  seems," 
I  replied,  "  but  it  is  none  the  more  likely  for  so  much 
seeming." 

Well,  for  a  little  while  Yates  sailed  along  with  a  favora- 
ble breeze.  He  went  to  Attleboro,  and  by  dint  of  out- 
ranting  all  who  had  ever  ranted  there  before,  he  got  up  a 
revival.  In  the  midst  of  it,  he  married  one  of  the  con- 
verts, a  widow,  with  some  property.  The  property  he 
contrived  to  squander  as  fast  as  possible.  He  plunged 
deeply  into  debt,  and  then  eloped  in  the  night,  leaving  both 
his  debts  and  his  wife  behind  him.  The  next  we  heard  of 
Yates,  was  from  Wheeling,  Va.,  where  he  had  just  served 
another  widow  in  a  similar  way.  A  Wheeling  paper  ex- 
posed him  in  an  article,  headed,  "  Widows  beware  of  a 
Scoundrel  !"  In  this  article  was  an  account  of  the  seve- 
ral names  and  characters  he  had  assumed,  at  different 
places,  and  a  catalogue  of  his  living  wives.  The  fellow 
had  wives  enough  to  stock  a  harem  for  a  bashaw  of  seve- 
ral tails.     So  much  for  this  model  of  piety. 

Late  in  the  fall  of  this  year  I  made  a  second  visit  to  the 
Beech  Woods,  and  continued  there  through  another  winter, 
I  became  strangely  attached  to  that  rude  region  ;  if  the 
reader  has  ever  seen  it,  he  will  not  much  admire  my  taste, 
methinks,  yet  to  me  its  very  ruggedness  constituted  its 
principal  charm  ;  it  was  a  realization  of  scenes  of  romance 
which  my  early  reading  had  strongly  impressed  on  my 
fancy.  Those  tall  and  gloomy  hemlocks,  in  the  twilight 
depths  of  whose  shades  so  many  pellucid  streamlets  have" 


OF   A   ITNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  57 

their  birth.  How  I  loved  to  stroll  in  their  recesses,  where 
it  seemed  I  could  be  more  alone  with  God  than  it  was  pos- 
sible to  be  elsewhere.  Yet  this  fancy  for  solitary  ramb- 
ling in  those  dim  solitudes,  cost  me  no  little  fatigue  and 
suffering  at  times.  I  was  more  than  once  lost  for  many 
hours  together,  and  to  be  lost  totally  was  a  thing  easily 
possible  to  one  as  ignorant  of  woods  life  as  I  was  ;  in  a 
wilderness,  where,  in  some  directions,  one  might  wander 
for  scores  of  miles  without  coming  to  a  human  habitation. 
I  arrived  about  nine  o'clock,  one  night,  in  a  very  ex- 
hausted and  battered  condition,  at  the  cabin  of  a  Mr.  Kipp, 
OTi  whom  I  was  in  the  habit  of  calling.  His  wife,  who  was 
a  woman  of  a  mirthful  disposition,  fell  to  laughing  im- 
moderately when  she  saw  my  plight,  for  she  knew  I  had 
been  lost ;  and  she  herself,  together  with  a  neighboring 
woman,  had  experienced  a  similar  fate  only  the  day  before, 
and  in  the  same  woods.  They,  indeed,  had  fared  worse 
than  I,  for  after  wandering  about  for  several  hours,  they 
had,  by  the  merest  accident,  barely  succeeded  in  getting 
back  by  night  to  the  house  from  whence  they  had  started. 
Their  husbands,  meanwhile,  alarmed  at  their  non-return, 
were  out  in  search  of  them  the  livelong  night  with  dogs, 
horns,  and  straw  torches.  These  women  had  often  before 
been  over  the  same  ground,  but  in  this  instance  a  wind 
had  prostrated  several  of  the  hlaized  trees,  and  they  thus 
lost  the  clue  by  which  they  were  accustomed  to  trace  their 
way.  The  same  circumstance  had  occasioned  my  losing 
myself,  but,  I  must  own,  that  I  was  so  indifferent  a  woods- 
man, and  so  given  to  musing  withal,  that  it  was  no  hard 
matter  for  me  to  get  lost  under  any  circumstances.  On 
tliat  occasion  I  had  been  lost  since  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning;  for  some  hours  of  that  tin^  I  had  been  entan- 
gled in  an  extensive  thicket  of  laurels,  from  which  I  had, 
at  one  moment  seriously  despaired  of  ever  extricating  my- 
self. They  would  entangle  themselves  about  my  limbs  ; 
twist  round  my  neck  and  body,  and,  by  their  extreme  elas- 
ticity, jerk  me  in  every  direction.  For  a  considerable 
time  I  was  on  my  hands  and  knees,  endeavoring  thus  to 
make  my  way  through  the  loop-holes  formed  by  their 
bending  trunks  ;  but  whether  I  was  making  progress  in  any 
given  direction,  or  in  a  circle,  I  had  no  means  of  ascer- 
taining. At  length  I  climbed  up  a  tall  young  tree,  to  see 
how  far  the  thicket  extended,  and  in  what  direction  escape 
from  it  was  most  practicable  ;  but  so  faint  was  I  from  long 


58  EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

fasting,  and  these  arduous  exertions,  that  I  could  not  main- 
tain my  position  on  the  tree  long  enough  to  look  around 
me  ;  so  I  let  myself  down,  and  relaxing  my  efforts  in  de- 
spair, I  sat  down  on  a  log  and  gave  way  to  murmuring 
thoughts.  "My  lot  in  life  is  a  very  hard  one,"  thought  I; 
"  it  has  been  little  else  than  a  series  of  hardships  from  the 
cradle — a  lonely  orphan — with  no  remembrance  of  a 
mother's  holy  love,  nor  a  father's  protecting  care ;  where 
ever  I  go  I  find  all  others  to  be  linked  by  bonds  of  rela- 
tionship to  the  rest  of  humanity :  but  by  what  tie  am  I 
united  I  I  am  a  being  by  myself — a  sole  link  without  a 
place  in  the  chain.  Oh  that  I  had  but  a  brother's  compan- 
ionship! a  sister's  sweet  affection!  but  neither  of  these, 
alas  !  has  it  been  my  lot  to  enjoy."  And  tears,  copious, 
scalding  tears,  began  to  course  down  my  cheek,  as  I  thus 
dwelt  repiningly  upon  the  loneliness  and  desolation  of  my 
orphan  life.  It  was  but  a  momentary  dejection,  however, 
for  it  happened  that  at  that  instant  the  sullen  clouds  which 
had  concealed  the  sun  all  day,  and  sent  down  a  chilling 
drizzle  that  had  wet  me  to  the  skin,  now  slightly  disparted 
toward  the  western  horizon,  and  a  gleam  of  sunshine  fell 
on  the  log  upon  which  I  sat.  In  a  moment  my  melancholy 
was  dispelled  ;  the  current  of  my  thoughts  was  changed. 
"I  am  not  an  orphan,  after  all,"  I  mentally  exclaimed;  "  I 
have  a  Father  in  the  skies,  and  his  love  is  greater  than  a 
mother's,  sister's,  brother's  ;  it  is  more  than  all  the  world 
to  me."  Have  I  ever,  my  gracious  God,  doubted  thy  pa- 
ternal and  ever-watchful  presence  with  me  since  l  The 
courage  which  this  new  train  of  thought  inspired,  stimu- 
lated me  to  renewed  exertions,  whereby  I  was  enabled — 
as  I  have  said — to  reach  my  destination,  although  at  a  late 
hour,  and  in  a  sadly  bruised  and  exhausted  condition. 

When  doubt  oppress'd  my  sinking  heart, 
Soon  did  my  Father's  smiles  impart, 

A  healing  balm. 
He  whisper'd,  and  my  sorrows  fled — 
*' Peace!  peace  my  tremb'ling  son!"  he  said, 

And  all  was  calm. 

Since  that  sweet  hour  my  heart  has  been 
The  home  of  hope,  of  joy  serene, 

And  heavenly  rest. 
I  see  my  Father's  wings  outspread. 
In  shelt'rlng  kindness  o'er  my  head^ 

And  I  am  blest. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  59 


CHAPTER   VI. 

Becomes  the  Pastor  of  a  Society  in  Philadelphia — Something  of  fe- 
male preachers — Divine  calls — Secret  prayers  in  public  places,  etc. 
— Adopts  free  opinions  in  religion,  and  makes  a  third  visit  to  the 
Woods. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  summer  following  my  second 
visit  to  Beech  Woods,  (1828,)  I  accepted  a  settlement 
at  Spring  Garden,  Philadelphia,  with  a  small  but  interest- 
ing society  of  Independent  Methodists.  Mr.  Kennard 
was  then  deceased,  and  his  church  in  Kensington  had  cho- 
sen for  his  successor,  a  man  who  had,  till  then,  been  a 
minister  of  the  Christian  denomination.  Many  doubted 
whether  his  religious  faith  was  the  same  as  his  predeces- 
sor's— for  the  Christian  denomination  is  known  to  be 
Arian, — but  he  maintained  it  was,  and,  although  some  dis- 
satisfaction existed  toward  him  from  a  suspicion  of  his 
sincerity,  yet  in  the  main  the  church  continued  united, 
and  still  retained  its  isolated  position  with  regard  to  other 
sects.  Between  it  and  the  church  of  which  I  had  become 
pastor  there  was  no  ecclesiastical  union,  although  they 
perfectly  agreed  both  in  faith  and  form  of  government. 
At  that  time  there  existed  no  such  christian  body  as  that 
now  denominated  Protestant  Methodist.  The  individu- 
als who  originally  composed  that  sect,  were  then,  the  most 
of  them,  within  the  pale  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church, 
and  were  essaying  peaceably  to  effect  a  reformation  in  its 
form  of  government.  Some  small  parties,  however,  had 
withdrawn  from  that  church,  on  the  ground  of  the  oppres- 
siveness of  its  polity,  and  had  formed  themselves  into  inde- 
pendent societies.  It  was  not  until  1829,  that  the  Metho- 
dist Protestant  church  was  constituted,  and  the  church  to 
which  I  ministered  became  then  an  integral  part  of  that 
body.  I,  however,  retaining  still  my  anti-sectarian  preju- 
dices, refused  to  go  into  the  compact,  and  thus  my  con- 
nexion with  it  was  dissolved. 

The  mania  for  preaching — so  prevalent  among  certain 
classes  of  christians — on  the  part  of  persons  destitue  of 
every  requisite  for  the  business,  was  often  a  source  of 
annoyance  to  me  in  my  capacity  of  pastor  of  a  society. 
They  would  plead  a  divine  call,  and  how  could  I  gainsay 


60         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

that  ?     Now  this  business  of  a  divine  call  is  what  I  never 
believed  in,  otherwise  than  as  such  call  may  be  inferred 
from  the   possession  of  the  requisite  talents  and  disposi- 
tions on  the  part  of  those  who  wish  to  engage  in  the  min- 
istry.    My  pulpit  was  several  times  occupied   by  females 
who   claimed   to  be    the  subjects  of  a  call.     They  were 
either  greatly  mistaken,  or  they  had  been  called  to  very 
little  purpose.     Nevertheless,  as  it  always  insured  a  full 
house  to  give  out  that  a  sister  would  preach,  we  always 
yielded  to  this   class  of  claimants.     There  came  once  a 
genteel   widow    to    make  her  debut  in  our  church  as   a 
preacher;  she  was  a  resident  of  New  York,  and  bore  a 
letter  to  me  which  gave  her  a  high  character.     She  told 
me  God  had  called  her  a  long  while  before,  and  that  she 
believed  that  much  of  the    trouble  she  had  since  experi- 
enced, was  a  judgment  on  her  for  disobeying  the  divine 
vocation.     I  gave  her  my  views  on  that  point  with  great 
frankness.     I  questioned  her  as  to  the  form  in  which  the  call 
came — whether  audibly,  or  by  an  impression  on  her  mind. 
She  could  give  no  intelligible  account  of  the  matter  ;  yet 
she  was  sure  of  the  fact  itself.     "  I  have  examined  my 
heart,"  she  said,  "  to  make  sure  that  it  was  not  a  tempta- 
tion from  the  devil,  but  I  have  no  reason  to  think  it  is,  for 
what  selfish  motive  can  I  have  to  gratify  ?     It  cannot  be 
to  secure  a  pecuniary  support,  for  I  am  already  in  easy 
circumstances.     Fame  is  not  my  object,  for  that  I  never 
coveted.     Neither  can  it  be  a  desire  to  roam  about,  for  my 
home  attachments  are  uncommonly  strong.     What  then 
can  it  be  ?"     As  I  wished  to  be  perfectly  honest  with  her, 
and  have  her  so  with  herself,  1  asked  her  in  all  simplicity, 
whether  a  desire  to  get  a  clerical  husband,  or  a  husband, 
at  least,  of  high  standing  in  the  church,  might  not  be  her 
motive.     O  !  dear,  no  !     Such  a  thought  was  far  from  her. 
She  would  never  think  of  marrying  again,  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, etc.     Well,  I  gave  up  the  pulpit  to  her  for  a 
Sabbath  evening,  and  the  experiment  satisfied  her  that  she 
had  mistaken  her  vocation.     She  returned  to  New  York, 
and  gave  evidence  by  uniting  her  hand  and  fortune  with 
those  of  a  local  preacher  shortly  afterwards,  thaft  she  had 
no  thought  whatever  of  marrying — not  the  least. 

The  most  outrageous  maltreatment  of  Scripture  and 
English  to  which  I  ever  listened,  was  from  a  tall  and 
gaunt  Yorkshireman,  who,  in  spite  of  all  efforts  to  pre- 
vent him,  took  forcible  possession  of  the  pulpit  at  Spring 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  61 

Garden,  and  bored  us  with  what  he  termed  a  "  discoorse." 
His  subject  was  the  Prodigal  Son.  In  describing  the  Pro- 
digal's leave-taking  of  his  family  he  went  deeply  into  the 
pathetics.  "  We  behoold  'im,"  said  he,  in  a  half-crying, 
lugubrious  tone,  "  taking  a  last  fare-a-well  of  'is  faather, 
and  a  last  fare-a-well  of  'is  moother,  and  a  last  fare-a-well 
of  'is  seesther,  and  a  last  fare-a-well  of  'is  broother,  and 
a  last  fare-a-well  of  'is  hooncle,"  and  so  on  through  the 
family  connexions.  He  then  described  his  hero's  pro- 
gress in  dissipation;  and  here  his  oratorical  powers  had  fine 
scope.  He  made  him  to  start  from  "ome"  in  a  coach 
and  six — then  he  sells  one  pair  of  "  orses"  after  another 
to  pay  his  gambling  accounts,  (very  graphic.)  "I  see 
'im,  in  my  fancy's  mind  as  it  weer,"  said  he,  "  driving 
from  ball-room  to  ball-room,  and  from  theatre  to  theatre, 
and  from  coort  to  coort  ;  he  rolls  about  in  colussiousness 
end  ubiquity,  and  perseweers  onwards  without  a  dimning 
veil  between."  Upon  my  veracity,  reader,  this  was  his 
exact  language.  I  know  not  but  I  should  have  wept  from 
pure  mortification,  had  it  not  been  that  an  opposite  pro- 
pensity was  brought  into  exercise  by  the  circumstance  of 
a  negro  dropping  in,  and  taking  his  seat  directly  fronting 
me.  Cuffy  seemed  in  great  doubt  whether  the  gibberish 
to  which  he  was  listening  was  a  violent  assault  upon  hon- 
e.st  English,  or  whether  it  belonged  to  a  higher  and  more 
magnificent  style  of  oratory  than  he  was  accustomed  to. 
In  his  perplexity  to  decide  this  point  he  would  roll  his 
large  whites  towards  me,  ever  and  anon,  in  order  to  gather 
from  my  countenance  what  I  thought  of  it  all.  For  my 
part,  I  was  in  perfect  torture  during  the  whole  time,  from 
a  hard  contest  between  my  risible  and  lachrymal  organs. 

My  stand  against  sectarianism  brought  me  into  intimacy 
with  Theophilus  Gates,  who  published  the  Reformer. 
He  was,  as  I  have  before  hinted,  very  sincere  in  tlie  war- 
fare which  he  waged  against  the  real  and  fancied  evils  and 
corruptions  of  Christendom,  and  though  he  used  against 
these  things  the  severest  language  of  denunciation,  yet  I 
know  him  to  have  been  one  of  the  meekest  and  most  inof- 
fensive of  men.  It  was  his  misfortune  that  he  was  prone 
to  confine  his  view  of  things  to  their  darker  aspects. 
Phrenologically  speaking,  his  organ  of  hope  was  small. 
Hence  he  v/as  perpetually  looking  that  the  vials  of  wrath 
in  the  Revelations  should  be  poured  out  upon  the  chris- 
tian world,  to  purge  it  of  the  corruptions  he  deplored.    In 


62  EXPERIENCE,    LABORS,    jLND   TRAVELS 

these  dark  forebodings  it  was  not  in  my  nature  to  sympa- 
thize; I  ever  had  too  much  sunshine  in  my  heart  to  admit 
of  my  being  a  prophet  of  evil.'*' 

I  will  not  assert  that  there  is  a  necessary  connection 
between  starvation  and  heresy — although  beyond  a  doubt, 
the  latter  has  often  drawn  the  former  in  its  train — ^but  I 
will  assert,  that  whilst  I  lived  at  Spring  Garden,  I  volunta- 
rily limited  myself  to  the  smallest  allowance  of  food  com- 
patible with  the  support  of  nature,  and  I  also  at  the  same 
time  became  heretical  in  respect  to  several  points  of  faith. 
My  motive  for  abstinence  was  that  I  might  study  to  better 
effect  ;  considerations  of  economy  had  nothing  to  do  with 
it,  for  my  board  cost  me  nothing.  My  diet  was  a  small 
slice  of  bread,  spread  with  molasses,  and  a  cup  of  weak 
tea  without  cream.  This  three  times  a  day.  The  effect 
of  a  perseverence  for  six  months  in  this  course  of  liv- 
ing was,  that  it  made  me  quite  indifferent  to  food  ;  inso- 
much that,  so  far  as  mere  gratification  was  concerned,  I 
could  forego  it  altogether.  I  have  good  reason  to  assert 
this,  for  the  lady  with  whom  I  boarded  was  a  bountiful 
liver,  and  took  all  means  to  tempt  me  to  indulge  in  the 
pleasures  of  the  table,  but  without  effect.  That  I  was  ad- 
vantaged by  this  low  living  I  will  not  assert.  I  think  it 
doubtful.  When  unwell,  however,  I  still  practice  absti- 
nence for  a  day  or  two  at  a  time,  and  never  fail  to  expe- 
rience a  benefit  from  it. 

I  became  a  heretic  on  some  points,  I  have  said.  First, 
with  regard  to  prayer.  I  had  often  heard  Methodist 
preachers  tell  their  hearers,  that  if  they  would  single  out 
an  individual,  and  make  his  conversion  an  object  of  special 
and  persevering  prayer,  God  would  be  sure  to  convert 
him.  And  that  too,  be  it  observed,  whether  the  individual 
knew  of  such  prayer  being  offered  on  his  behalf  or  not. 
This  set  me  to  reflecting,  thus.  They  say  God  does  all  he 
consistently  can  do,  for  the  salvation  of  all  men.  If,  then, 
he  will  do  more  for  the  individual  prayed  for  than  he 
otherwise  would,  does  he  not  do  more  than  he  consistently 

*When  I  last  heard  of  poor  Gates,  ho  had  become  a  religious  mo- 
nomaniac.  He  fancied  that  all  human  government  is  wrong — civil, 
as  well  as  ecclesiastical — that  it  is  wrong  for  christians  to  hold 
property  by  private  title — that  all  should  be  in  common  among 
them,  even  to  wives,  if  I  have  not  been  misinformed.  How  care- 
fully  should  fanaticism  be  guarded  against  in  its  incipiency !  since, 
like  all  evils  that  beset  poor  humanity,  it  is  dreadfully  progressive. 


OF  A  UNIVEESALIST  PREACHER.  63 

can  do,  in  his  case  ?  And  moreover  how  does  it  agree  with 
the  notion  of  free  agency,  for  God  to  convert  an  individual 
at  the  instance  of  others,  rather  than  that  of  the  indivi- 
dual himself  ?  Account  how  you  will,  rationally,  for  God''s 
directly  converting  a  man,  you  cannot  make  it  compati- 
ble with  free  agency.  Does  he  act  by  a  direct  energy  on 
the  man's  will  ?  He  must,  then,  either  impart  this  energy 
in  sufficient  amount  to  induce  a  willingness  to  be  converted, 
or  in  an  insufficient  amount.  In  the  latter  case,  he  might 
as  well  impart  none  at  all ;  for  the  object  cannot  be  ac- 
complished by  insufficient  means.  In  the  former  case,  it 
is  the  imparted  energy  that  induces  the  volition  to  be  con- 
verted ;  not  the  will  itself.  The  will,  then,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  is  not  free,  and  the  agency  exerted  by  a  will  not 
free,  is  not  free  agency. 

As  to  the  privacy  of  prayer — as  expressly  enjoined  by 
the  Savior — I  early  became  very  averse  to  its  violation  in 
any  form,  or  under  any  pretext.  Even  as  early  as  the 
time  of  my  living  atSweedsboro,I  was  so  conscientious  on 
this  head,  that,  having  slept  with  the  old  shouting  preach- 
er before  described — whom  I  knew  to  be  watching  me  for 
evil — I  yet  omitted  to  pray  in  my  chamber  on  rising  in 
the  morning,  from  a  conviction  that  it  was  wrong  to  do  so 
in  the  presence  of  a  fellow  mortal.  Well,  I  thus  incurred, 
as  I  knew  I  should,  the  old  preacher's  rebuke  for  an  alleg- 
ed neglect  of  duty.  "Some  of.  you,  who  profess  to  be 
christians,"  said  he,  in  his  sermon  of  that  forenoon,  "  are 
so  base  and  ungrateful,  as  to  rise  from  your  beds  of  a 
morning  without  thanking  God  for  preserving  you  through 
the  night.  This  very  morning,'''^  he  continued — casting,  at 
the  same  time,  an  indignant  glance  towards  me — "  some  of 
you  have  wickedly  neglected  this  duty  ;  you  knoio  you  havCy 
and  yet  you  pretend  to  be  christians.  Shame  on  you  1" 
etc.  I  never  undeceived  the  old  man  as  to  the  truth  of 
the  matter,  but  the  Searcher  of  all  hearts,  and  the  Seer 
of  all  secret  things,  knew  that  the  old  preacher  was  mis- 
taken, so  far  as  his  censure  was  meant  to  apply  to  me. 

And  how  comes  it  to  pass,  that  Christ's  injunction  on 
this  point  is  so  grossly  disregarded  by  christians  '?  On 
coming  into  church,  the  Methodist  usually  bows  his  head 
on  the  back  of  the  bench  before  him,  and  engages — so,  at 
least,  the  action  is  meant  to  say — in  secret  devotion  !  The 
clergyman  stands  some  minutes  with  his  hat  before  his 
eyes,  or  he  drops  for  a  f^w  moments  on  his  knees,  and  he 


•04         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

also  is  engaged  in  private  prayer  !  The  Episcopalian 
priest — who  does  all  these  matters  up  in  a  genteel  way — 
ascends  the  rostrum  ;  drops  daintily  into  a  kneeling  posi- 
tion on  a  cushioned  stool  ;  gathers  his  robe  into  a  graceful 
festoon  at  each  elbow,  and  bowing  his  forehead  on  the 
delicately  white  and  nicely  folded  handkerchief,  which  he 
holds  at  an  angle  convenient  for  the  purpose,  he,  too,  en- 
gages in  private  prayer  in  presence  of  the  whole  assem- 
bly !  In  the  name  of  piety,  what  meaneth  this  ?  Is  this 
entering  into  the  closet  and  shutting  the  door  ?  or  is  it 
not,  rather,  praying  to  be  seen  of  men  1  Is  it  not  an  ad- 
vertisement to  all  present,  to  take  note  that  a  private 
prayer  is  being  offered  ?  I  speak  not  in  this  case  of  the 
intention  of  the  supplicant  ;  I  judge  it  not  ;  I  will  even 
admit  it  sincere  ;  but  is  Christ's  command,  touching  the 
secrecy  of  prayer,  obeyed  ?     That  is  all. 

During  one  of  my  visits  to  the  Beech  Woods,  another 
clergyman  and  myself  were  put  to  lodge  in  the  same 
room.  Previous  to  undressing  he  dropped  on  his  knees  by 
the  bedside.  I  did  not.  What  I  should  have  done  if  I 
had  been  alone,  the  reader  shall  be  informed,  when  it  be- 
comes his  business  to  know  and  mine  to  tell.  SujSice  it  to 
say  that  I  went  to  bed  without.  When  he  had  got  through, 
and  had  come  to  bed,  he  inquired  with  some  surprise, 
**  Don't  you  pray,  brother  ?"  "  You  must  excuse  me  from 
answering,"  I  replied.  "Do  ?/om.?"  "Do  /.' "  he  rejoined, 
"  why,  what  do  you  think  I  was  doing  on  my  knees  f 
"  Indeed  I  can't  tell,"  said  I.  "  Can't  tell  !  why,"  said 
he,  "  you  surprise  me."  "  No  doubt  I  do,"  was  my  an- 
swer, "  yet  I  very  sincerely  mean  what  I  say  ;  I  know  not 
what  you  were  doing  on  your  knees  ;  what  the  posture 
implies,  so  far  as  observers  are  concerned,  i  know  ;  it  im- 
plies an  advertisement  that  you  were  praying."  "  Well, 
and  was  I  not  ?"  he  asked.  "  God  only  knows,"  was  my 
reply.  At  which  he  was  evidently  nettled,  until  I  ex- 
plained to  him  that  it  was  far  from  my  purpose  to  ques- 
tion his  sincerity,  but  that  as  he  had  fallen  into  a  practice 
that  the  Master  had  expressly  forbidden,  I  could  not  in 
conscience  conform  to  it,  whatever  might  be  thought  of 
my  piety  on  that  account.  "  What,  then,  shall  be  done," 
he  asked,  "  when  two  or  more  lodge  in  one  room  ?  Shall 
they  forego  prayer  altogether,  for  fear  of  being  seen  by 
each  other  ?"  "  No.  They  have  other  alternatives,"  said 
I ;  "  either,  they  can  unite  in  the  exercise,  in  which  case 


OF   A   UNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  66 

it  becomes  social,  and  does  not  fall  within  the  injunction 
to  secrecy — or,  as  in  God's  eye  attitude  is  nothing,  they 
can  each  send  up  his  soul  in  silent  devotion  to  heaven 
while  lying  in  his  bed,  quite  as  acceptably — the  circum- 
stances considered — as  if  he  were  on  his  knees."  I  am 
sorry  to  disgust  the  reader  by  stating,  that  notwithstand- 
ing this  explicit  explanation  of  my  views,  this  man  reported 
me  to  be  an  enemy  to  secret  prayer. 

The  clergyman  who  succeeded  Mr.  Kennard,  at  Ken- 
sington, had  formerly  been,  as  before  said,  a  Christian. 
Several  ministers  of  that  denomination  visited  Kensington 
during  his  ministry  there,  by  whose  means  Arianism  be- 
gan to  manifest  its  prevalence  in  that  church,  as  also  in 
the  Methodist  and  Presbyterian  churches  of  that  district. 
This  circumstance  led  to  a  request  on  the  part  of  Rev. 
Mr.  Chandler,  Presbyterian,  that  I  would  lecture  in  his 
church  in  defence  of  the  Trinity,  on  a  particular  Sabbath. 
I  had  several  times  before  occupied  Mr.  Chandler's  desk, 
and  I  readily  complied  with  his  request  on  that  occasion, 
for  I  was  a  zealous  stickler  for  the  Trinity,  and  was  rather 
fond,  moreover,  of  polemical  disquisitions.  I  acquitted 
myself  of  the  task  assigned  me  to  the  best  of  my  ability, 
and  had  the  satisfaction  of  satisfying  Mr.  Chandler,  who 
thanked  me  warmly  for  the  service  I  had  rendered  to  the 
truth,  and  pronounced  my  discourse  irrefutable.  Will  the 
reader  believe  me  !  That  very  night  I  went  to  bed  a 
Unitarian  !  Yes,  I  relinquished,  after  a  candid  review  of 
two  or  three  hours  duration,  a  doctrine  I  had  been  taught 
to  regard  as  an  essential  item  in  the  christian  system  ;  the 
very  keystone  of  its  supporting  arch  ;  and  I  adopted  in 
its  stead  a  tenet  which  is  denounced  as  one  of  the  worst  of 
heresies  !  Does  the  reader  doubt  my  sincerity  in  this 
matter  ?  Let  me  tell  him,  then,  that  the  presumption 
should  ever  be  in  favor  of  the  moral  honesty  of  a  man 
who  leaves  the  orthodox  ranks,  and  attaches  himself  to  _a 
small  and  proscribed  party;  provided,  always,  that  his 
diaracter  and  prospects  stood  fair  in  his  former  position. 
The  reverse  holds  with  regard  to  those  who  leave  a  sect 
termed  heretical  and  attach  themselves  to  an  orthodox 
church  ;  they  go  over  to  the  popular,  the  influential,  the 
wealthy  side  ;  they  escape  the  odium  theologicum  which  at- 
tached to  them  in  their  former  relations,  and  so  many  are 
the  selfish  motives  which  may  be  conceived  to  have  influ- 
enced them  to  change,  that  the  presumption  against  their 


166  EXPERIENCE,   LABOES,  AND  TRAVELS 

sincerity  must  necessarily  be  strong  in  all  reflecting 
minds.  It  is  possible,  nevertheless,  for  a  man  to  be  actu- 
ated by  base  motives  in  the  former  case,  and  by  conscien- 
tious ones  in  the  latter  ;  albeit,  it  must  be  owned  that  it  is 
but  barely  possible. 

My  change  of  views  took  place  as  follows :  I  had  seen, 
in  my  congregation  that  day,  some  Unitarians,  with  whom 
I  was  on  a  footing  of  intimacy.  I  had  observed  them  ta- 
king notes,  and  I  knew  they  would  not  fail  to  put  me  to 
the  proof  of  my  positions  at  the  first  opportunity,  where 
I  should  not,  as  in  the  pulpit,  have  the  argument  all  to  my- 
self. So,  to  be  prepared  for  these  gentry,  I  sat  down  in 
my  chamber  before  retiring  to  rest,  and,  one  by  one,  I 
reviewed  my  arguments  in  juxtaposition  with  the  objec- 
tions I  conceived  they  would  bring  against  them.  Alack  ! 
under  this  searching  process,  argument  after  argument 
faded  away  into  mist !  I  saw,  that  for  this  important  item 
of  my  creed,  I  could,  in  very  deed,  urge  nothing  but 
forced  and  inconsequential  inferences.  If  I  was  startled 
by  this  discovery,  I  was  more  so  when  I  came  to  consider 
the  evidence  on  the  other  side.  As,  for  instance,  the  strict 
unity  of  the  Godhead,  as  everywhere  inculcated  in  the 
Scriptures.  The  jealous  care  with  which  the  Jews  were 
guarded  against  the  notion  of  a  plurality  of  Gods.  The 
fact  that  they  were  in  no  instance  informed  that  God  is 
three,  but  invariably  that  he  is  one.  Their  consequent 
utter  ignorance  respecting  a  trinity.  The  absence  of  all 
pretension,  on  Christ''s  part,  to  any  dignity  beyond  what 
arose  from  his  relation  to  God  as  a  Son.  His  repeated 
avowal  of  inferiority  to  and  dependance  on  the  Father. 
The  fact,  that  in  no  recorded  case  was  a  candidate  for  ad- 
mission to  the  church  required  to  believe  either  in  the 
Trinity,  or  the  supreme  Godhead  of  Christ,  but  simply  to 
confess  Jesus  as  the  Messiah.  The  absence  of  all  allusion 
to  such  a  doctrine  by  the  Apostles  in  their  preaching  and 
writing,  save  as  it  may  be  doubtfully  inferred  from  a  few 
texts  of  questionable  signification.  The  infinitely  closer 
aflnnity  of  this  doctrine  with  heathen  polytheism,  than 
with  the  Divine  unity  as  taught  in  the  sacred  oracles. 
The  absurd  consequences,  moreover,  inseperable  from  the 
notion  that  Christ  is  God  in  the  supreme  sense  ;  as  in  that 
case,  *'  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  is  also  "  the  God  and 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ" — in  other  words,  the 
God   and  Father  of  himself !     If  Christ  is   the  Supreme 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  67 

Jehovah,  then  the  Supreme  Jehovah  is  Christ;  and  as 
Christ  was  born,  put  to  death,  buried,  etc.,  the  Supreme 
Jehovah  was  bom,  put  to  death,  and  buried  1  Christ  was 
begotten  of  the  Father;  but  if  Christ  is  the  Father — and 
such  he  must  be  if  he  is  Jehovah — then,  undeniably,  he 
was  begotten  by  himself,  he  prayed  to  himself!  he  raised 
himself  from  the  dead  !  he  ascended  to  himself,  and  sat 
on  his  own  right  hand;  was  a  mediator  between  himself 
and  man  !  Then  the  unchangeable  God,  who  was  once 
pure  spirit,  became  also  corporeal  !  He  who  was  once 
wholly  Divine — and  changeth  not — became  also  human  ! 
etc.,  etc.  When  considerations  of  this  kind  rushed  on  my 
mind,  I  was  overwhelmed.  I  wondered  how  it  was  possi- 
ble I  had  not  thought  of  them  before  ;  and  the  Savior,  in 
the  language  of  gentle  remonstrance,  seemed  to  say  to 
me,  "  Poor  blind  mortal  !  have  I  not  in  my  word  most  ex- 
plicitly declared  to  you,  my  Father  is  greater  than  I  !" 
Well,  there,  forever,  ended  my  Trinitarianism,  and  I  went 
to  bed  that  night  a  believer  in  the  doctrine  which  I  had 
that  day  exerted  my  utmost  efforts  of  argument  to  refute. 
This  was  my  first  great  step  in  heresy. 

Alas  1  when  once  fairly  loosed  from  the  moorings  of 
educational  prejudice,  who  can  prescribe  limits  to  the 
mind's  discoveries  ?  I  had  detected  myself  to  be  fallible 
in  one  point  of  faith — why  might  I  not  be  equally  so  in 
others  ?  My  range  of  thought  being  now  materially 
widened,  I  read  the  Bible  with  new  eyes.  I  was  not  long 
blind  to  the  fact  so  clearly  taught  therein,  that  Christ's 
mission  and  death  had  for  their  object  the  reconcilation 
of  the  world  unto  God,  and  not,  as  creeds  teach,  of  God 
unto  the  loorld.  I  looked  in  vain  through  the  New  Testa- 
ment for  a  solitary  sanction  to  the  popular  dogma,  that 
Jesus  died  to  appease  the  divine  wrath — to  cancel  the  de- 
mands of  divine  justice  against  man — to  make  it  possible 
for  God  to  extend  his  clemency  to  sinners,  and  the  like  ; 
the  Bible  I  found  is  wholly  innocent  of  any  such  teaching; 
that,  on  the  contrary,  it  uniformly  represents  the  mission 
and  death  of  Christ  as  manifesting  God's  love  to  man — not 
as  satisfying  his  vengeance.  So  I  advanced  another  step  in 
heresy. 

Who  is  it  that  has  said,  "  a  wise  man  may  often  change 
his  opinions,  but  a  fool  never  will  ?"  Whoever  he  is,  I 
am  vastly  obliged  to  him  for  enabling  me  to  range  myself 
in   so   respectable   company.     My  next   advance  was  to 


68         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

review  the  doctrine  of  native  and  total  depravity.  In 
behalf  of  that  doctrine  I  had  read  Fletcher''3  Appeal  to 
matter  of  fact  and  Common  Sense,  and  Wesley's  Reply  to 
Dr.  Taylor  on  Original  Sin.  The  former — although  lav- 
ishly praised  by  Methodist's — I  always  regarded  as  an  ap- 
peal to  j^rejudice  rather  than  to  common  sense,  and  it  really 
i5  nothing  more.  Of  the  latter  I  judged  more  favorably, 
but  I  had  never  seen  Dr.  Taylor's  work,  and  could  there- 
fore not  decide  on  the  merit  of  Wesley's  review  of  it.  On 
the  other  side,  indeed,  I  had  never  read  anything,  until 
Letters  to  Wilberforce,  by  a  Layman,  fell  into  my  hands^ 
and  I  then  could  not  but  perceive  that  the  entire  weight 
of  Scripture,  reason,  and  fact,  was  incontestibly  against 
the  popular  dogma.  I  am  at  a  loss  for  terms  that  will 
suitably  convey  my  detestation  of  that  dogma.  Of  all 
the  absurd  errors  that  perverted  human  intellect  ever 
generated,  it  strikes  me  that  none  will  compare  with 
it  in  point  of  beastiality.  If  true,  the  infant  that  nes- 
tles in  its  mother's  bosom  is,  morally,  as  foul  as  the 
devil  himself;  for  he  can  be  no  more  than  totally  depraved. 
I  found,  indeed,  that  the  text  in  Genesis,  on  which,  main- 
ly, this  doctrine  leans  for  support,  affords  a  refutation  of 
it  rather  than  gives  it  countenance.  God  drowned  the  old 
world  because  of  the  utter  wickedness  of  its  inhabitants. 
But,  pray,  if  what  was  said  of  them  is  equally  true  of  all 
humanity,  viz  :  "  that  the  immagination  of  the  thoughts  of 
their  hearts  was  only  evil  continually,"  why  was  any  pari 
of  the  race  preserved  ?  If  all  human  nature  was  thus 
evil,  Noah  and  his  family,  being  parts  of  that  nature,  were 
also  evil  ;  and  the  race  which  should  spring  from  them  to 
re-people  the  world,  being  of  the  same  evil  nature  as  the 
race  destroyed,  would,  of  course,  furnish  equal  reasons 
for  another  deluge.  This  is  too  obvious  for  argument.  A 
farmer  would  be  most  unwise,  who,  finding  his  premises  to 
be  overrun  with  shrubs  of  a  poisonous  nature,  should  con- 
tent himself  with  merely  mowing  them  down,  without 
extracting  the  evil  roots  from  which  a  like  growth  of  poi- 
sonous shrubs  must  necessarily  spring  up.  If  it  be  said, 
"But  Noah  and  his  family  were  righteous,  and  were  thus 
exceptions  to  the  general  state  of  mankind;"  I  reply,  that 
as  the  generations  since  the  flood  have  sprung  from  that 
righteous  stock,  the  notion  of  their  total  depravity  by  vir- 
tue of  a  descent  from  Adam  falls  to  the  ground.  Thus 
we  see  that  the  text  in  Genesis  was  only  applicable  to  the 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  $9 

particular  generation  that  were  cut  off.     They  were  not 
said  to  have  been  sinful  by  nature,  but  to  have  "  corrupt- 
ed their  way;"  which  implies  a  departure  from  natural 
rectitude.     The    very  history  of  the  fall,  shows~that  it 
entailed  not  total  depravity,  for  the  fruit  of  the  interdicted 
tree  imparted    a  knowledge  of  good   as  well    as  of  evil. 
*'  Behold,  the    man  has  become  like  one  of  us,  knowing 
good    and   evil."     By  what  unheard-of  alchymy  divines 
have  transmuted  these  two  qualities  into  the  one  of  evil 
only,  it  will,  methinks,  overtask  their  ingenuity  to  explain. 
Well,  having  become  a  heretic  while  yet  the  pastor  of 
an  orthodox  church,  what  then  ?     Did  I  at  once  avow  ray 
opinions  ?     Did  I  covertly  preach  them  ?     Or,  did  policy 
prevail  over  conscience,  and  1  continue  to  advocate  views 
I  no  longer  believed  ?     I  did  neither.     I  had  yet  several 
topics  on  which  I  could  descant  from  the  pulpit  with  the 
consent  of  my  own  understanding  and  the  approval  of  the 
congregation.     I  still  believed  in  several  of  the  essentials 
of  an  evangelical  faith ;  in  a  personal  devil,  for  instance ;  a 
supernatural  new  birth;  a  general  judgment  after  death; 
and  the  endless  punishment  of  the  wicked.     In  these  most 
essential  points  I  was  still  orthodox.     It  may  be  neverthe- 
less that  1  should  not  have  kept  my  heresy  a  secret,  for, 
phrenologically    speaking,    my   secretiveness   is  far   from 
being  a  very  prominent  organ :  but  I  was  saved  the  un- 
pleasantness of  disclosing  my   change  of  sentiments  by 
the    circumstance,   which   occurred    about   that   time,  of 
the  society  merging  itself  in  the  newly  organized  Radical 
Methodist  church.     This  dissolved  my  connection  with  it, 
for,  although  I  had  advised  the  society  to  that  measure,  I 
yet  declined  going  personally  into  it,  because  of  my  anti- 
sectarian  position.     It  turned  out,  however,  that  a  majority 
of  the  society,  when  they  found  that  they  were  about  to 
lose  their  pastor  by  this  amalgamation,  insisted  on  retract- 
ing the  measure,  and  retaining  me  in  my  former  relation. 
It  was  with  great  reluctance — as  God  is  witness — and  not 
without  very  earnest  solicitation,  that  I  consented  to  be  a 
party  to  this  retrograde  movement;  and  as  my  conduct  in 
the  matter  must  necessarily  have  appeared  inconsistent  to 
those  unacquainted  with  the  peculiar  circumstances  which 
induced  it,  and  as  these  pages  will  be  likely  to  fall  under 
the  eye  of  some  of  those,  I  will,  for  their  information, 
state  those  circumstances. 

It  is  known  to  them,  that  during  my  stay  at  Spring  Gar- 


70         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

den,  I  boarded  with  a  most  benevolent  widow,  named  Hes- 
ter Bain.  Being  childless,  and  having  lost  an  only  son, 
who,  had  he  lived  to  that" time,  would  have  been  just  of 
my  age  and  borne  a  close  resemblance  to  me,  as  the  old 
lady  thought,  it  was  natural  that  a  maternal  fondness  in 
my  favor  should  have  grown  up  in  her  breast  during  the 
twelve  months  of  my  residence  with  her.  She  had  a  com- 
petent income,  and  did  for  me,  without  charge,  all  that  I 
could  have  expected  from  her  had  I  been  her  son;  in- 
deed, my  happiness  seemed  a  principal  object  of  her  care; 
and,  as  she  was  of  a  very  affectionate  nature,  her  attach- 
ment to  me  acquired  a  strength  of  which  I  became  most 
painfully  conscious  when  I  came  to  part  with  her.  There 
were  also  others  in  the  society,  who  ascribed  their  conver- 
sion to  my  instrumentality,  with  whom  I  found  it  a  painful 
matter  to  part.  In  short,  it  was  decided  that  I  must  re- 
main with  them.  We  should  hold  our  meetings  in  Mrs, 
Bain's  suit  of  parlors,  until  by  an  increase  of  our  numbers 
— ^which  all  were  sure  would  be  certain  to  ensue — we 
should  be  enabled  to  procure  a  regular  place  of  worship; 
and  we  should  then  be  a  happy  little  body  of  believers, 
accountable  to  God  alone  for  our  faith  and  forms  of  ser- 
vice, and  independent  of  all  the  rest  of  Christendom.  A 
pleasant  dream  enough. 

From  the  above  account  it  may  be  seen  with  what  fa- 
cility, and  by  what  trivial  chances,  parties  are  multiplied 
in  the  Christian  church.  For  my  part,  I  was  far  from 
being  inwardly  at  ease  in  this  isolated  and  responsible  posi- 
tion.    If  what  the  poet,  Cowper,  saith,  be  true,  that 


" God  gives  to  every  man 

The  virtue,  talents,  understanding,  taste, 
That  lift  him  into  life,  and  let  him  fall 
Just  in  the  nich  he  was  ordained  to  fill," 

it  is  certain  I  never  was  ordained  to  fill  the  niche  of  a 
party  leader,  for  I  possess  neither  the  talents  nor  the  in- 
clination for  such  a  business.  Besides,  my  opinions  were 
then  in  a  transition  state,  and  I  could  not  foresee  upon 
what  system  of  faith  I  was  eventually  to  settle  down. 
Under  these  circumstances  preaching  became  an  irksome 
task  to  me,  because  I  could  advance  none  of  the  leading 
orthodox  doctrines  with  entire  confidence.  I  therefore 
adopied  the  expedient  of  asking  leave  of  absence  for  two 
months,  which  was  granted,  and  I  left  the  city  for  a  third 
visit  to  the  Beech  Woods. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  71 

I  made  a  stop  of  a  week  on  the  way,  in  the  Quakero- 
Methodist  neighborhood  aforementioned  —  the  William's 
Settlement — where  a  most  lamentable  affair  had  transpired 
a  little  while  previous.  A  respectable  widow,  who  kept  a 
public  house  on  the  river  shore,  had  a  lovely  daughter 
named  Mary;  she  was  betrothed  to  a  young  man  in  the 
neighborhood,  who  died  on  the  very  day  that  had  been 
fixed  on  for  their  nuptials.  Poor  Mary  had  more  heart 
than  philosophy,  and  the  latter  proved  too  weak  for  her 
hard  fortune.  She  lost  her  reason.  The  fact  was  first 
indicated  by  her  frequent  visits  to  her  lover's  grave,  on 
which  she  would  prostrate  herself  and  talk  to  its  uncon- 
scious tenant;  now  gently  upbraiding  him  for  his  nonap- 
pearance on  the  day  affixed  for  their  wedding,  and  anon 
expatiating  on  the  happiness  they  should  ere  long  enjoy 
together.  It  was  deemed  necessary  to  confine  her  to  the 
house,  at  length,  lest  she  should  come  to  harm.  In  this 
condition  of  affairs,  a  traveler  stopped  at  the  Inn  one  day 
and  ordered  dinner.  He  was  about  seating  himself  to  it, 
when  the  Deputy  Sherifi"  of  the  county,  also,  stopped  for 
the  same  purpose,  and  wished  it  got  in  haste.  "  As  you 
seem  to  be  in  a  hurry,  sir,"  said  the  traveler,  "  which  is 
not  at  all  the  case  with  me,  I  will  resign  my  place  to  you 
with  great  pleasure,  and  wait  till  another  dinner  can  be 
prepared."  The  Deputy  thankfully  acquiesced  in  this 
arrangement,  and  devoted  himself  to  his  meal  without  de- 
lay. While  he  was  thus  engaged,  the  very  complaisant 
traveler  walked  leisurely  out,  unhitched  the  Deputy's 
horse  from  the  post  before  the  door,  mounted  him,  crossed 
to  the  Jersey  shore  by  a  ford  near  by,  and  made  a  clean 
escape  with  his  prize  I  Cool — was  it  not  ?  The  confu- 
sion produced  amongst  the  people  of  the  Inn  by  this 
affair,  was  great,  as  may  well  be  supposed;  but  they  were 
doomed  to  be  still  worse  confounded  by  what  shortly  fol- 
lowed. Poor  Mary  had  sense  enough  left  her  to  seize  the 
opportunity  this  circumstance  afforded,  for  executing  a 
design  against  her  own  life.  Unobserved  by  the  family, 
she  went  to  a  large  tub  of  water  which  stood  near  the 
kitchen  door,  and,  kneeling  down,  she  bowed  her  head 
into  it,  and  held  it  there  till  life  was  extinct  1  Was  ever 
suicide  more  strangely  effected? 

Deep  and  universal  in  the  neighborhood  was  the  grief 
on  Poor  Mary's  account;  nevertheless,  a  Methodist  minis- 
ter of  the  district  refused  to  minister  at  her  burial  !     God 


72         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

forgive  the  bigot,  and  grant  he  may  never  have  done  worse 
things  !  And  yet,  was  he  not  right  in  so  refusing?  For, 
what  consolation  could  he  have  afforded  in  a  case  of  this 
kind?  None — none  whatever.  According  to  his  stern 
creed  there  are  depths  of  human  guilt  to  which  the  arm  of 
infinite  grace  cannot  reach  down,  and  the  poet  is  a  trifle 
mistaken  who  saith,  that — 

"  Earth  has  no  sorrow  that  Heaven  cannot  heal ;" 

for,  according  to  the  creed  of  endless  wo,  there  are  many 
such  sorrows;  for,  can  Heaven  heal  the  wo  of  a  mother 
whose  daughter  is  eternally  damned?  Is  there  a  balsam 
in  the  dispensary  above  for  the  heart,  when  the  object  of 
its  ineradicable  affection  is  screaming  in  waves  of  flame? 

Mary's  sad  story  wrung  from  my  muse  the  following 
verses,  which,  I  must  own,  say  little  for  the  exact  sound- 
ness of  my  orthodoxy  at  the  time,  on  more  points  than  I 
have  above  specified. 

Mary,  a  stranger  hears 
How  closed  thy  sad  young  life  below, 

His  muse  is  all  in  tears, 
And  strikes  her  harp  to  notes  of  wo. 

Thy  beauty  met  with  early  blight, 

Soon  set  thy  sun  in  sorrow's  night. 

How  like  a  timorous  thing 
Thy  spirit  bursts  its  bars  of  clay. 

And  fled  with  hasty  wing 
From  this  censorious  world  away. 

Thou  ill  couldst  brook  life's  storms  to  brave, 

So  fled'st  unlicensed  to  the  grave. 

Say,  in  that  hour  of  gloom, 
What  was  thy  bosom's  weight  of  grief, 

That  thou  should'st  seek  the  tomb 
As  the  sole  refuge  for  relief  ? 

Had'st  thou  not  heard  of  Heaven's  sweet  grace, 

That  can  all  guilt — all  woes  efface? 

Fond  man  too  often  scorns 
The  tender  friend  in  mercy  given, 

To  smooth  his  path  of  thorns 
Through  this  brief  life  of  sin,  to  heaven. 

He  oft  a  worthless  object  proves, 

Man  never  loved  as  woman  lovea. 

Oh  !  had  thy  case  transpired 
In  time  of  Rome's  or  Greece's  glory, 

'Twould  then  be  much  admired, 
And  blazoned  forth  in  classic  story. 

And  learned  fools  had  sought  to  raise 

Their  fame,  by  spouting  in  its  praiie. 


OF   A  TJNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  7S 

Haply  some  future  day, 
'Twill  yet  become  a  theme  of  Pong, 

And  many  a  rustic  lay, 
Poor  Mary's  mem'ry  may  prolong. 

And  swains,  and  rural  nymphs,  may  plight 

Their  vows  b«side  thy  grave,  by  night. 

I  will  for  thee  appeal 
From  the  harsh  judgment  of  the  world, 

It  has  no  heart  to  feel. 
Its  censures  are  at  random  hurl'd. 

Thy  cause  is  in  the  court  above. 

Whose  King's  thy  Father,  and  his  name  is  Love. 

In  that  neighborhood,  I  was  made  acquainted  with  ano- 
ther interesting  case,  which  I  will  relate,  for  the  light  it 
throws  on  the  utility  of  signing  Temperance  pledges;  albeit 
this  was  some  time  before  Temperance  societies  came 
into  vogue.  There  had  lived  in  that  vicinity  an  English- 
man of  great  and  varied  talents,  and  a  turn  for  mathe- 
matics and  the  mechanic  arts;  in  short,  he  was  well  quali- 
fied to  be  a  useful  man,  and  to  make  a  fortune  for  himself. 
Unfortunately,  however,  he  was  a  slave  to  the  demon 
Alcohol;  and  in  his  drunken  debauches  he  squandered  all 
the  earnings  of  his  sober  intervals.  Aware  of  the  evils 
he  was  bringing  on  himself,  he  went,  at  length,  to  a 
neighboring  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  made  an  oath  be- 
fore him  in  due  form  of  law  that  he  would  wholly  abstain 
from  intoxicating  drinks  for  one  year.  He  kept  his  oath 
inviolate,  but  at  the  end  of  the  term  relapsed  into  his 
former  course.  After  indulging  for  awhile,  he  went 
again  and  renewed  his  oath  for  two  years :  and  he  was 
equally  faithful  to  this  pledge  as  to  the  former.  But,  alas  ! 
he  again  relapsed,  and,  after  all,  went  down  before  his 
natural  time  to  a  drunkard's  grave  !  Suppose,  now,  that 
Temperance  societies  had  then  existed,  this  man  would 
doubtless  have  pledged  himself  to  abstain  for  life,  and  thus 
one  useful  member  had  been  saved  to  society. 

On  the  first  Sunday  after  my  third  arrival  in  the  Beech 
Woods,  I  attended  a  Quarterly  Meeting,  held  by  a  society 
of  Protestant  Methodists  which  had  been  recently  formed. 
By  request  of  the  stationed  minister,  I  delivered  the  open- 
ing sermon,-  after  which,  he  arose  and  informed  the  con- 
gregation that  they  all,  without  distinction,  were  welcome 
to  be  present  at  the  Quarterly  Meeting  which  would  suc- 
ceed to  the  religious  services;  "for  we,"  said  he,  "unlike 
the  old  Methodists,  have  no  secrets  which  we  wish  to  keep 
6 


74         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

from  the  people,  but  transact  our  business  openly  and 
before  the  world;  therefore,  let  all  attend  who  can." 
Now,  this  invitation  excited  in  the  audience  no  small  de- 
gree of  curiosity.  They  could  not  comprehend  the  value 
of  it,  for  they  had  been  accustomed  to  consider  the  reli- 
gious services  accompanying  a  Quarterly  Meeting  as  con- 
stituting the  Quarterly  Meeting  itself;  and  they  wero 
therefore  at  a  loss  what  to  make  of  the  liberal-seeming 
welcome  thus  accorded  to  them.  So  a  little,  old,  decrepid, 
polite,  intelligent,  but  very  sputtering  Englishman  arose. 
'*Sir,  we  are  very  much  obliged  to  you,"  said  he,  "for 
your  kind  invitation;  but,  may  I  beg  to  be  informed,  sir, 
vvhat  a  Quarterly  Meeting  is  ?  for  I  supposed,  sir,  that 
we  were  already  at  a  Quarterly  Meeting."  And  he  stood 
awaiting  the  information  he  asked  for.  "  Father  Bortree,''' 
said  the  preacher,  "  get  up  and  explain  to  the  people  the 
nature  of  a  Quarterly  Meeting."  This  was  to  an  aged 
Irishman,  who  having  been  nearly  all  his  life  a  Methodist, 
was  regarded  as  an  oracle  in  all  that  concerned  Method- 
ism. "  VVal,"  said  father  Bortree,  "a  Quarterly  Maat- 
ing  in  Ireland,  with  huz,  they  used  to  begin  on  the 
Friday,  and" — "  Hoot!  hoot,  man  1"  broke  in  another  Irish- 
man, some  six  feet  and  as  many  inches  long,  Clemens  by 
name,  who  was  a  general  and  privileged  bore,  but  took 
special  delight  in  boring  father  Bortree — or  '  Robin,'  as 
he  termed  him — in  particular,  "  don't  you  see,  man,  that 
the  people  are  waiting  til  hear  from  you  what  a  Quarter- 
ly Maating  hez?  What  signifies  telling  them  about  Ire- 
land ?"  "  Wal,  wal,"  resumed  father  Bortree,  "have 
patience  and  Til  tal  them.  As  I  was  saying,  in  Ireland 
with  huz" — "Hoot,  Robin  I  Tut,  man  !"  again  broke  in 
his  long  countryman,  "  why  but  ye  tal  the  people  what  it 
hez,  man?  The  divil  a  haaporth  do  they  care  about  Ire- 
land. Just  stick  til  the  point,  and  tal  them  what  it  hez.^ 
"  Wal,  WAL,  WAL,"  impatiently  resumed  the  tormented 
father  Bortree,  "  have  patience,  wul  ye?  and  I'll  tal  them 
what  it  hez.  In  Ireland  they  used  to  begin" —  "  Hoot,, 
toot,  toot  I  arent  ye  ashamed  now  ?  fie,  Robin  !"  a  third 
time  interrupted  the  incorrible  Clemens;  "why,  man,  dount 
ye  see  the  paaple  waiting  on  ye  for  information  foment  a 
Quarterly  Maating  ?  Why  but  ye  gov  it  til  them  at  once, 
widout  any  of  yer  kalavers  ?  Tal  them  what  it  hez,  m  an, 
and  be  done  wid  it."  All  this  time  the  little  Englishman 
stood,  in  a  meek  attitude,  awaiting  an  explanation  of  tb^ 


OF   A    UNIVERSALIST    PREACHER  76 

matter.  Father  Bortree  again  commenced,  and,  as  before, 
was  proceeding  to  tell  when  such  meetings  begun  in 
Ireland,  how  long  they  continued,  etc.,  when  his  torment- 
or, looking  him  earnestly  in  the  face  the  while  and  making 
sundry  signs  of  impatience,  once  more  broke  him  off  with 
his  petulent  monosylables.  "Hoot,  hoot,  hoot!  I  am 
ashamed  of  the  father's  son  of  ye,  Robin  !  that  ye  can't 
spaak  til  the  point  no  better  nor  that  comes  to — fie  upon 
the  likes  of  ye  !  de'il  a  haaporth  do  the  paaple  care  what's 
done  in  Ireland,'"  etc.,  etc.,  till  poor  father  Bortree  was  fain 
to  give  up  his  undertaking  in  sheer  despair,  and  the  people 
were  dismissed  with  precisely  the  amount  of  knowledge  on 
the  subject  that  they  ha.!  at  the  beginning. 

Reader,  that  same  little  old  Englishman  was  the  meana, 
a  few  days  subsequent  to  tiie  ludicrous  scene  above  descri- 
bed, of  putting  me  into  a  train  of  thought,  which  resulted 
in  my  becoming  a  Univcrsalist.  He  himself  was  one,  on 
the  Winchesterian  scheme,  and  in  a  conversation  with 
him,  as  we  walked  in  the  woods,  I  was  contesting  that 
point.  With  his  other  qualities,  the  old  gentleman  had 
the  crustiness  common  to  age  and  decrepitude,  and  as  we 
arrived  at  a  fork  where  our  respective  roads  separated,  he 
asked  me,  pettishly,  whether,  in  the  creation,  God  had  pro- 
posed no  determinate  ey^fZ  to  himself?  "  End?"  asked  I, 
in  some  embarrassment,  "  end — end — well,  what  of  it  ?" 
But  the  old  gentleman  was  hobbling  off,  muttering  as  he 
went,  *'  pooh  !  pooh  !  do  you  think  the  Almighty  would 
create  without  an  end  ?  Nonsense  1"  And  thus  I  was  left 
alone  to  follow  out  the  clue  thus  furnished,  whitherso- 
ever it  might  logically  lead  me.  Well,  thought  I,  it 
is  certain  that  none  but  an  idiot  would  enter  upon  ani/  im- 
portant work  without  some  fixed  and  definite  end — and  when 
an  end  is  proposed,  means  are  usually  adopted  for  carrying 
it  into  effect;  and  those  means  will  be  more  or  less  effect- 
ual,  according  as  the  being  who  employs  them  is  more  or 
less  wise.  Now,  as  respects  Jehovah,  must  he  not  have 
proposed  to  himself  the  most  benevolent  end?  Undoubtedly. 
Could  any  end  be  more  benevolent  than  the  best  ultimate 
good  of  all  his  creatures  ?  No.  Allowing  this,  then,  to 
have  been  his  end,  was  his  wisdom  equal  to  a  selection  of 
means  sufficient  for  its  accomplishment  ?  Certainly.  Did 
he  foresee,  and  was  he  able  to  provide  against,  every  pos- 
sible contingency  that  might  arise  to/n/5^ra;'e  his  purpose! 
He  undeniably  possessed  such  foresight  and  ability.     How, 


t6  EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

then,  can  you  escape  the  conclusion  that  all  mankind  will 
ultimately  be  saved  ?     I  can  in  no  way  escape  it. 

Here,  then,  I  was,  nailed  fast  enough,  nor  could  I  strug- 
gle free  by  the  aid  of  the  usual  Arminian  quirks  and  quid- 
ities,  though  I  knew  the  full  value  of  them,  I  think,  as 
well  as  any  body.  For  example,  say  God  meant  to  save 
all  men,  provided  that  all  should  comply  with  certain 
terms.  But,  knowing  with  certainty  that  an  immense 
number  would  not  so  comply,  did  he  at  all  propose 
the  best  ultimate  good  of  that  number?  If  yea,  then  he 
proposed  an  ultimate  good  which  he  positively  knew  could 
never  be  effected  !  If  nay,  then  with  regard  to  that  im- 
mense number  —  out-counting  the  stars  of  heaven  —  he 
created  with  no  purpose  of  benevolence  !  To  them  he 
was  never  good  !  They  owe  him  no  thanks  for  their  being 
— but  curses  rather  !  And  to  them,  assuredly,  does  not 
apply  the  exhortation,  "  Let  every  thing  that  hath  breath 
praise  the  Lord  I"  As  regards  them,  such  text  is  a 
mockery. 

Having  thus  lost  my  last  anchor-hold  on  orthodoxy,  I 
was  still  unwilling  to  scud,  with  all  sails  set,  before  the 
winds  of  free  inquiry,  drive  me  where  they  would;  no, 
aware  of  the  danger  of  running  under  and  foundering  my 
bark  from  such  a  course,  I  chose  rather  to  sail  close,  and 
steer  with  caution,  for  I  feared  infidelity  worse  than  the 
least-approved  form  of  religion  in  Christendom — and  so  I 
yet  do — my  object  was  religion  still,  but  religion  in  a  ra- 
tional, in  a  loveable  form,  and  such  she  must  be  of  neces- 
sity, as  she  springs  from  the  source  of  infinite  reason  and 
of  infinite  love.  At  all  events,  as  I  was  resolved  to  adopt 
no  creed  by  system,  but  to  take  each  item  separately  as 
my  mind  should  approve  it,  I  was  still  in  uncertainty  as  to 
where  I  should  eventually  come  out,  and  consequently  I 
had  no  purpose  of  uniting  myself  to  a  sect.  It  was  plain, 
however,  that  I  could  no  longer,  in  good  conscience,  retain 
my  position  as  pastor  of  an  orthodox  society.  And,  sooth 
to  say,  I  had  become  sick  of  public  life;  I  longed  for  re- 
tirement, and  where  could  I  better  gratify  that  wish  than 
in  those  wooded  solitudes  ?  Nowhere,  I  supposed.  So, 
thought  I,  I  will  choose  me  a  lass  to  my  liking,  who  will 
consent  to  share  my  seclusion  here,  away  from  the  great 
Tanity-fair  of  the  world,  and  we  will  be  all  in  all  to  each 
other.  And  little  will  we  reck,  I  mean,  with  how  much 
complexity  and  clangor  the  machinery  of  busy  life  goes 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  '  '        Tt 

on,  SO  that  it  draw  not  us  into  its  whirl,  but  leave  us  to 
the  green  and  fragrant  quietude  of  our  sylvan  retreat. 
Aha  1  how  "  disappointment  laughs  at  hope's  career  ?" 
A  lass  to  my  liking  I  found,  'tis  true — and  for  that  I  am 
sincerely  thankful — ^but  as  to  the  semi-hermit  part  of  the 
project,  these  pages  manifest  how  far  that  has  been  realized. 
For  fifteen  years,  now,  have  our  humble  fortunes  been 
linked  together,  and  together  have  we  seen,  since  that  day, 
a  tolerably  extensive  tract  of  the  world's  territory — its 
vales,  mountains,  busy  marts,  and  watery  highways — its 
states  of  social  refinement,  and  uncouthness — of  luxury, 
mediocrity,  and  want. 

Immediately  after  my  marriage,  I  returned  to  Philadel- 
phia to  dissolve  my  connexion  with  my  little  society;  and 
a  heart-aching  time  I  had  of  it.  The  scene  of  that  trans- 
action is  still  before  me ;  it  took  place  in  Mrs.  Bain's  suit 
of  parlors,  where  all  the  members  had  assembled.  I  plead 
my  inexperience — my  inability  to  manage  their  affairs  of 
myself — the  difficulty  they  would  fmd,  in  case  of  my  sick- 
ness at  any  time,  or  my  death,  to  get  my  place  supplied. 
I  faithfully  pointed  out  the  embarrassments  of  various 
kinds  which  must  necessarily  beset  a  society — consisting 
in  two  thirds  of  females — in  their  struggles  to  maintain  an 
isolated  existence,  etc.,  etc.  All  this,  I  now  confess,  I 
should  have  represented  to  them  at  the  commencement. 
I  was  culpable,  and  selfish  too,  I  fear,  in  deferring  it  until 
it  better  suited  my  convenience  to  leave  them.  However, 
they  granted  me  the  release  I  asked,  but  tears,  and  sobs, 
coming  from  the  depths  of  the  heart,  too  plainly  evinced 
the  cost  at  v/hich  this  grant  was  obtained.  As  for  poor 
Mrs.  Bain — the  widow  with  whom  I  boarded — she  seemed 
quite  unequal  to  the  blow.  With  the  usual  blindness  of 
affection,  she  had  not  contemplated  my  leaving  her,  as 
among  possible  future  contingencies.  My  leaving  her  ! 
what  could  induce  such  a  step?  I,  a  friendless  orphan, 
and  destitute  of  worldly  means,  and  she  a  second  mother 
to  me,  able  and  willing  to  afford  me  all  the  comfort  I 
needed;  and  yet  1  was  about  to  break  loose  from  those 
ligaments  of  her  kind  heart  which  she  had  humanely 
thrown  about  me  1  Alas  1  "  It  is  not  in  man  that  walketh 
to  direct  his  steps."  The  stage  was  to  call  for  me  early 
on  the  morrow,  and  during  the  live-long  night  the  kind  old 
lady  paced  her  chamber  to  and  fro,  and  vented  her  grief 
in  half-suppressed  groans.     When  the  stage  at  length  ar- 


78  EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

Hved,  and  the  separation  could  be  no  longer  deferred,  he? 
.anguish  knew  no  bounds;  she  clung  to  my  neck;  she 
screamed ;  she  implored  me  to  pity  and  remain  with  her, 
for  she  should  die  if  I  did  not.  God  knows  how  deeply  1 
did  pity  her,  and  how  deeply  distressed  I  was  at  the  neces* 
sity  for  the  separation ;  but  to  stay  had  become  a  thing  im- 
possible.    God's  blessing  on  her  love  for  the  orphan  I 


CHAPTER    V. 

■Review  —  Avows  the  Universalist  faith — Sermon  on  the  rich  maa 
and  Lazarus — Poetises  again — Is  convinced  of  the  propriety  ol 
connecting  himself  with  the  Universalist  body — Settles  with  a 
Society  at  Brookline,  Pa. — Something  of  the  practical  tendencies 
of  Universalism. 

It  may  be  well  now — since,  of  the  whole  coast  of  heresy, 
I  have  got  out  at  length  upon  the  farthest-projecting  pro> 
monotory — it  may  be  well  to  review  my  course,  and  to  see 
how  I  stand  in  respect  to  changes;  for  I  am  by  no  means 
ambitious  of  the  distinction  of  being  regarded,  in  any  emi- 
nent sense,  as  a  changeling — certainly  not.  And  yet,  to 
well  considered  and  progressive  changes,  no  blame  can 
justly  attach,  but  the  contrary.  It  is  the  changing  back- 
ward and  forward,  and  backward  again,  that  betrays  either 
an  imbecile  intellect,  or  an  obliquious  moral  bent,  and 
fairly  entitles  one  to  pity  or  to  scorn.  "  I  am  a  free-think- 
er," the  eccentric  Lorenzo  Dow  used  to  say,  "  by  which  1 
mean  that  /  think,  and,  if  at  any  after  time  I  discover  that 
I  have  thought  amiss,  I  think  again^  Now,  it  is  that  very 
thinking  again  that  bigotry  proscribes — she  ordains  that 
the  once  thinking,  be  it  right  or  wrong,  shall  suffice  a  man 
for  life.  Howbeit,  as  I  have  never  taken  the  oath  of  fealty 
to  her,  1  feel  not  particularly  bound  by  her  behests.  In 
respect  to  religious  opinions,  my  mind  has  never  known 
but  three  stages.  The  first  was  that  of  my  educational 
faith,  imposed  upon  me  by  my  "  spiritual  pastors  and  mas- 
ters.'" The  second  was  the  transition  stage  afore  described, 
in  which  there  was  a  blending  of  the  things  behind  with 
the  things  before.     And  the  third  was  that  of  an  entire  in* 


or   A    UNIVERSALIST    PREACHER. 


7^ 


ddctrination  into  Universalism,  where  1  yet  remain,  with 
every  prospect  of  doing  so  forever. 

It  implied  no  change  that  I  quitted  my  mother  church 
and  adopted  the  usages  of  Methodism — no  change  of  faith 
I  mean,  for  the  creed  of  the  latter  was  adopted  from  the 
former,  even  as  to  its  phraseology.  After  my  interest  in- 
religion  was  awakened,  I  preferred  the  communion  of  the 
Methodists,  because  I  judged  them  to  be  more  devout  than 
Episcopalians,  and  because,  also,  their  hymns,  beyond  any 
I  had  ever  known,  seemed  the  very  echo  of  my  experi- 
ence. Moreover,  the  following  circumstance  had  no  small 
influence  upon  that  preference. 

When  I  was  taken  from  the  Orphan's  Asylum,  where  I 
had  been  a  close-pent  prisoner  for  nine  years,  I  was  put 
to  board  with  a  family  who  were  relations  by  marriage  to 
my  grandmother.  On  the  first  Sunday  of  my  residence 
with  them,  they  asked  me  if  I  would  accompany  them  to 
meeting.  I  answered  yes,  at  a  hazzard,  for  I  really  knew 
not  what  a  meeting  was.  Until  then,  I  knew  not  that  Chris- 
tianity existed  in  any  other  than  the  Episcopalian  form.^  J 
knew,  indeed,  by  reading,  that  there  had  been  such  a  thing 
as  Catholocism,  but  I  supposed  it  had  become  obsolete. 
Judge  then  of  my  surprise  when  I  discovered  that  a  meet- 
ing meant  an  assemblage  for  religious  worship  !  And 
then,  what  a  plain  house! — Methodists  were  a  much 
plainer  people  then  than  now.  And  what  an  anomoly  for 
a  man  to  preach  and  pray  without  either  book  or  gown  I 
And  how  strangely  sounded  the  hymns,  and  the  tunes  to 
which  they  were  sung  !  All  was  strange.  Well,  years 
passed,  till  in  my  seventeenth  year,  as  before  related,  I 
was  awakened  to  the  subject  of  religion.  It  then  became 
a  question  with  me,  as  to  the  kind  of  meeting  to  which 
those  relatives  had  conducted  me;  they  had  appeared  to 
be  a  good  and  kind  sort  of  people;  the  remembrance  of 
them  was  pleasant:  and  I  could  remember  also  a  few 
stanzas  of  the  hymns  they  used  to  sing.  Consulting  a 
Methodist  book,  I  found  it  to  contain  those  very  hymns;  I 
hence  judged  them  to  have  belonged  to  that  denomination, 
and  that  the  more  endeared  to  me  both  the  hymns  of  that 
people  and  their  mode  of  worship. 

Few  Episcopalians,  at  that  day,  interpreted  their  creed 
in  the  evangelical,  alias  Calvinistic,  sense.  They  repudia- 
ted the  doctrine  of  native  depravity,  of  a  supernatural 
change  of  heart,  and  of  all  direct  spiritual  influences  in 


so  EXPERIENCE,  LABOES,  AND  TRAVELS 

religion.  They  stigmatized  these  views  as  Methodistical^ 
and  conducive  to  distempered  conceits,  and  various  fanati- 
cal affections.  I  once  took  an  agency  for  the  Episcopal 
Recorder,  edited  by  the  Rev.  G.  T.  Bedell,  a  very  eminent 
minister  of  Philadelphia.  Nevertheless,  on  the  score  of 
its  advocating  the  low  church  or  evangelical  doctrines  and 
usages,  I  found  great  opposition  to  it  on  the  part  of  Epis- 
copalians, both  clerical  and  laic,  insomuch  that,  where 
there  were  large  churches  of  that  people,!  could  scarcely 
obtain  for  it  a  single  subscriber.  Mentioning  this  circum- 
stance, at  the  time  of  it,  to  an  elderly  Episcopal  clergy- 
man— Rev.  Simon  Wilmer — he  informed  me  that  the  op- 
position to  the  evangelic  doctrines  had  lormerly  been  much 
greater  than  it  then  was,  and  that  at  a  certain  time  there 
was  but  a  single  clergyman  of  his  church,  besides  himself, 
within  the  bounds  of  the  convention  to  which  he  belonged, 
who  professed  to  have  experienced,  or  who  believed  in  the 
attainability  of  a  supernatural  change  of  heart.  Now, 
however,  nearly  that  whole  church  so  holds  !  If,  then, 
the  mother  church  herself  can  thus  change,  she  must  be 
sparing  of  her  anathemas  upon  her  heretical  son. 

I  have  said  that  I  longed  for  private  and  secluded,  life, 
and  I  did  so  most  earnestly.  I  could  sincerely  sympathize- 
in  the  poet's  wish — 

"  Oh  for  a  lodge  in  some  vast  wilderness, 
Some  boundless  contiguity  of  shade." 

But  it  was  not  in  the  Beech  Woods  that  I  was  destined  to 
find  the  retirement  I  sought,  nor  could  anything  but  my 
entire  ignorance  of  rural  habits  have  led  me  to  seek  it 
there.  One  can  be  far  more  secluded  in  the  heart  of  a 
great  city,  than  in  a  thinly  populated  district;  that  I  was 
not  long  in  learning  from  experience.  I  had  not  yet  de- 
clared the  change  in  my  faith,  simply  because,  in  fact,  1 
could  not  exactly  define  what  I  had  changed  to.  I  had, 
however,  an  appointment  to  preach  on  the  Sunday  follow- 
ing my  return  from  Philadelphia,  after  my  marriage;  the 
time  arrived;  the  congregation  was  mostly  composed  of 
Methodists  and  Baptists.  I  took  for  my  text,  Ps.  cxlix.  4. 
"  For  the  Lord  taketh  pleasure  in  his  children  :  he  will 
beautify  the  meek  with  salvation."  I  selected  this  beauti- 
ful passage  with  no  purpose  of  deducing  from  it  any  par- 
ticular theological  doctrine,  but  being  of  a  reasoning  habit 
in  my  discourses  at  all  times,  and  wholly  extemporaneous. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  81 

1  proceeded  step  by  .step  in  my  sermon  on  that  occasion, 
until  I  found  myself  launched  broadly  out  into  a  discus- 
sion of  God's  universal  paternity,  and  the  hope  thence 
arising  as  to  the  final  destiny  of  the  whole  human  family. 
I  can  assure  the  reader  that  I  had  a  wakeful  audience  that 
day;  looks  of  unbounded  surprise  were  exchanged  by  face 
with  face,  for  it  is  doubtful  if  a  single  person  there  had 
ever  before  listened  to  the  gospel  in  that  form :  and  I  was 
regarded  as  little  else  than  a  bold  blasphemer  in  daring  to 
give  utterance  to  it. 

And  it  was  no  minced  affair,  that  sermon,  although  my 
virgin  effort  as  a  Universalist.  After  having  satisfied  my- 
self on  the  affirmative  ground,  I  took  the  negative  in  hand ; 
I  labored  to  show  the  cruelty  and  injustice  of  the  doctrine 
of  endless  wo — its  revengeful  aspect,  and  its  evil  bearing 
upon  man's  views  of  the  Divine  character.  I  insisted  that 
my  hearers  themselves  did  not,  could  not,  believe  in  it,  any 
more  than  myself ;  to  comprehend  it,  indeed,  I  asserted, 
exceeded  the  capacity  of  the  human  understanding.  "  Not 
that  I  mean  to  impeach  your  sincerity,  my  friends,"  said  I; 
"  you  honestly  think,  1  doubt  not,  that  it  is  a  doctrine  of 
the  Bible,  and  that  it  is  your  duty  to  acquiesce  in  its  pro- 
priety; nevertheless  to  appreciate  it,  to  conform  your 
feelings  and  conduct  to  a  persuasion  of  its  truth,  is  more 
than  you  can  do.  Some  of  you  are  fathers,  and  mothers. 
You  have  children  grown  to  a  responsible  age;  they  are 
unconverted;  between  them  and  eternal  perdition,  there- 
fore, but  one  moment  of  time  may  separate.  Does  a  con- 
viction of  this  fact  influence  your  conduct  toward  them? 
On  the  contrary,  do  not  days,  months,  years,  pass  without 
their  hearing  a  word  from  you  relative  to  their  danger? 
Now  this,  certainly,  does  not  proceed  from  the  want  of  a 
sincere  affection  for  them,  for  you  manifest  a  suitable  con- 
cern for  their  earthly  weal,  and  should  one  of  ihem  be 
journeying  toward  a  precipice,  into  which,  as  you  foresaw, 
he  was  liable  to  fall  and  be  dashed  to  pieces,  you  would 
not  be  wanting  in  exertions  to  prevent  such  a  catastrophe. 
No,  you  would  leave  your  bed  at  midnight,  if  necessary, 
and  amid  storm  and  darkness  hasten  to  intercept  his  dan- 
gerous progress.  Yet,  in  that  case,  the  mere  temporal  life 
of  your  child  would  be  at  stake,  whereas  in  this  he  is  sup- 
posed to  be  traveling  toward  the  abyss  of  final  ruin — you 
know  not  at  what  moment  he  may  arrive  at  its  awful  brink, 
and  be  precipitated  into  its  waves  of  fire !    And  you  can 


S2  EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

be  indifferent  meanwhile!  Surely,  either  your  faith  orbtj- 
nevolence  is  sadly  at  fault,  and  I  must  needs  conclude  that 
it  is  the  former." 

It  will  be  believed,  that  there  was  no  small  stir  in  tho 
congregation  when 'the  meeting  closed;  nevertheless,  I 
must  do  the  people  the  justice  to  say,  that  they  manifested 
very  little  ill-feeling.  Some  sagacious  ones  had  forseen 
that  I  would  one  day  become  a  tJniversalist.  Others  had 
supposed  me  the  last  man  for  such  a  likelihood.  One  old 
gentlemarj,  a  class-leader,  gave  it  as  his  judgment,  that 
"  much  learning  had  made  me  mad" — of  which  "  much 
learning"  I  was  quite  innocent,  God  knows.  None,  how- 
ever, charged  me  with  insincerity  or  impure  motives;  nor 
could  they,  with  any  show  of  reason,  for  the  new  stand  1 
had  taken  was  against  every  prospect  of  worldly  interest^ 
and  on  that  account,  but  still  more  for  the  loss  of  friends 
and  public  countenance  which  I  foresaw  it  would  involve, 
it  was  a  sore  and  grievous  trial  to  me.  I  positively  knew 
of  no  Universalist  within  a  hundred  miles  of  me,  and  I 
now  felt  myself  more  than  ever  isolated  from  the  rest  of 
Christendom.  I  had  no  idea  of  ever  becoming  a  preacher 
of  the  Universalist  church.  I  judged  not  myself  to  possess 
the  necessary  ability,  neither,  indeed,  was  I  sufficiently  ac- 
quainted with  their  system  of  faith,  to  know  whether  I 
should  agree  with  them  in  several  important  particulars. 
However,  as  I  had  now  fully  committed  myself  on  the  point 
of  universal  salvation,  I  must  defend  it  against  all  opposi- 
tion as  I  best  could.  I  had  no  access  to  books  on  the  sub- 
ject, nor  had  I  ever  read  one;  and,  for  the  removal  of 
objections,  therefore,  and  the  harmonizing  of  certain 
Scripture  texts  with  my  new  theory,  I  had  to  rely  solely 
on  my  own  ingenuity.  True,  I  had  maintained  public 
debates  with  Universalists  early  in  my  public  life,  but  my 
bigotry  was  then  such,  that  I  retained  no  knowledge  of 
their  methods  of  explaining  the  texts  I  refer  to. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  it  was  not  long  ere  I  was 
called  on  for  an  exposition  of  the  Rich  man  and  Lazarus; 
and  the  reader  shall  have  an  outline  of  my  discourse  on 
that  subject.  But  I  must  first  notify  him  that  when  I  sub- 
eequently  saw  Mr.  Ballou's  exposition  of  it,  I  decidedly 
preferred  it  to  my  own. 

I  assumed,  then,  that  Christ  presented  the  case  as  a  sup- 
positious one — as  though  he  had  said,  "we  will  suppose  a 
case.     There  was  a  certain   rich   man,"  etc.     The  rich 


OP  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  83 

man,  I  assumed,  represented  a  voluptuary,  engrossed  in 
self-gratification,  and  unmindful  of  the  claims  which  his 
suffering  fellow  beings  had  upon  his  sympathy  and  means 
of  relief.  The  poor  man  "was  laid  at  his  gate,*"  not  be- 
cause of  his  known  benevolence,  as  Dr.  Clarke  supposes, 
but  simply  because  he  was  known  to  be  able  to  render  him 
assistance — the  poor  naturally  looked  for  aid  to  the  rich, 
Christ  represents  Lazarus  as  being  very  moderate  in  hia 
expectations,  "  desiring  to  be  fed  with  the  crumbs  that  fell 
from  the  rich  man's  table."  I  am  aware  that  the  word  desir- 
ing^ might,  without  violence  to  the  original,  have  been  ven- 
der ed  delighting,  and  that  it  is  thence  inferred  that  Lazarus 
actually  received  such  crumbs — which  Clarke  tells  us  were 
very  large  ones;  being  lumps  of  bread,  on  which  people 
in  those  times,  for  want  of  napkins,  wiped  their  fingers; 
forks  having  not  yet  come  into  fashion;  but  then  it  is  not 
pretended  that  desiring  is  not  also  a  correct  rendering,  and 
it  is  proved,  as  I  think,  by  all  the  circumstances,  to  be  ths 
true  one.  And  even  if  otherwise,  there  is  small  charity, 
I  trow,  in  granting  crumbs  to  a  beggar,  with  which  one 
has  wiped  his  greasy  fingers!  It  says  but  little,  too,  for 
the  kindness  of  the  rich  man,  that  this  poor  subject  of  dis^ 
ease  and  want  should  have  been  left  to  the  mercy  of  dogs, 
which  "came  and  licked  his  sores."  The  unsophisticated 
reader  will  scarcely  believe  that  this  circumstance,  also, 
has  been  interpreted  to  favor  the  notion  of  the  rich  man's 
charity!  Perhaps  he  sent  the  dogs  to  perform  that  office; 
and  perhaps  it  was  done  for  medicinal  purposes;  for  the 
lick  of  a  dog  is  healing;  and  Esculapius,  the  god  of  physic, 
was  sometimes  represented  in  statuary  with  a  dog  in  at- 
tendance! All  very  probable,  reader,  is  it  not?  In  con- 
tempt  of  all  this  circuitous  criticism,  I  assumed  that  the 
rich  man  was  a  sordid,  unfeeling,  sensualist,  and  that  Laz- 
arus, poor,  afflicted,  and  modest  in  his  claims,  was  wholly 
unpitied  and  neglected  by  him. 

But,  in  the  course  of  things,  the  conditions  of  the  par* 
ties  are  reversed.  Lazarus  dies  to  his  former  miserable 
and  degraded  state — he  was  not  buried,  mind  you — he  was 
"  carried  by  angels  to  Abraham's  bosom  :  "  in  other  words, 
he  was  elevated  to  a  seat  of  honor  in  the  nation  which 
claimed  Abraham  as  its  father.  "  The  rich  man  also  died," 
to  his  former  wealth  and  dignity,  and  he,  you  must  mark, 
*^was  buried,"  was  degraded,  obscured,  "and  in  hell" — 
hades,  literally  the  grave,  figuratively,  moral  or  civil  de- 


84  BXPERIBNCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

gradation — "  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  being  in  torment,  and 
saw  Abraham  afar  off,  and  Lazarus  in  his  bosom."  His 
turn  to  beg  is  now  come.  But  he  asks  no  favor  directly 
of  Lazarus — why  not,  if  he  by  his  previous  charities,  had 
laid  Lazarus  under  obligations  to  him? — he  merely  re- 
quests that  Lazarus  may  be  sent  to  his  relief,  and  is  told  in 
return,  '*  Thou  in  thy  life  time,"  in  thy  prosperous  days, 
*' receivedst  thy  good  things,  and  likewise  Lazarus  his  evil 
things."  Why  did  he  not  answer,  "  true,  and  I  imparted 
of  my  good  things  to  him,  and  may  now,  therefore,  justly 
demand  a  requittal?"  It  is  clear,  that  he  must  have  had  a 
lower  opinion  of  his  own  charity  than  it  has  pleased  Dr. 
Clarke  to  entertain  of  it — and  all  for  the  sake  of  thinking 
that  a  very  kind  and  benevolent  soul  may  be  eternally 
damned!  He  is  also  reminded  of  "  a  great  gulph"  which 
existed  between  himself  and  Lazarus;  such  as  at  all  times 
has  existed  between  the  rich  and  the  poor,  but  in  those 
times,  and  in  those  countries,  more  especially.  The  rich 
man  was  quite  well  aware  of  it  while  he  was  on  the  better 
side  thereof  It  was  hard,  in  those  days,  very  hard,  pass- 
ing from  poverty  to  wealth,  or  even  from  wealth  to  pov- 
erty, by  reason  of  the  law  of  primogeniture,  and  other 
conventional  regulations. 

Still  it  was  possible,  and  the  rich  man  had  fears  for  his 
five  brethren,  who  were  probably  pursuing  the  same  course 
which  had  ruined  himself.  It  might  prevent  their  coming 
to  the  "  same  place  of  torment," — sinking  to  the  same  state 
of  degradation — if  any  one,  who  had  actually  risen  from 
that  condition,  and  was  capable,  from  experience,  of  de- 
scribing its  horrors,  should  go  to  them  with  timely  exhor- 
tation. But  no,  saith  Abraham,  "  they  have  Moses  and  the 
prophets;"  they  have  all  the  instruction  granted  to  the 
rest  of  their  nation ;  let  them  attend  to  it,  or  abide  the  con- 
sequences of  their  neglect. 

The  moral  of  the  subject,  is,  1st.  That  a  course  of  pro- 
fligate and  prodigal  living  is  likely  to  end  in  beggary. 
2d.  That  if  we  are  deaf  to  the  calls  of  humanity,  when 
we  have  it  in  our  power  to  afford  relief,  we  shall,  by  a  just 
retribution  of  Providence,  be  liable  to  be  brought  to  ask 
and  be  denied  in  return.  3d.  That  it  is  exceedingly  diffi- 
cult, after  we  have  once  ruined  ourselves,  to  regain  our 
first  estate — the  gulph  is  hard  to  repass.  Finally;  if  we 
fail  to  improve  the  ordinary  means  of  instruction  with 
which  heaven  has  furnished  us,  we  are  not  to  expect  that 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER,  85 

God  will  arrest  our  straying  and  ruinward  steps  by 
miracle. 

Such  is  a  skeleton  of  the  discourse ;  and  I  backed  it  up 
by  proof,  that  the  orthodox  exposition  of  the  subject  cannot 
hy  possibility  be  correct,  because  it  is  well  known,  and  even 
by  the  most  learned  orthodox  divines  admitted,  that  "  Moses 
and  the  prophets"  teach  nothing  whatever — not  a  single 
iyllable — about  a  hell  of  suffering  beyond  the  present  ex- 
istence.  Nevertheless,  Mr.  Ballou's  explication  of  this 
parable  has  a  fuller  correspondence  with  Scripture  and 
fact,  and  is,  I  think,  the  true  one. 

My  meetings,  notwithstanding  my  change  of  sentiments, 
continued  to  be  crowdedly  attended,  and  by  all  classes  of 
believers.  In  a  settlement  called  Paupack,  the  oldest  in 
those  parts,  and  peopled  originally  by  emigrants  from 
Connecticut,  I  was  left  with  the  field  almost  wholly  to  my- 
self, though  it  had  been  included  in  a  Methodist  circuit  for 
more  than  thirty  years;  besides  that,  a  local  preacher  of 
that  denomination,  had  preached]  there  every  Sabbath  for 
a  long  time  previous.  But  he  ceased,  from  that  period; 
nor  do  I  think  he  ever  preached  afterward,  during  my  stay 
in  the  country,  except  on  funeral  occasions.  He  yet  lives, 
and  is  a  truly  good  man,  as  well  as  a  sensible  one  :  he  had 
founded  high  expectations  on  my  contemplated  settlement 
in  the  parts,  supposing  it  would  lead  to  very  favorable  re- 
sults in  a  religious  point  of  view.  How  I  dreaded  an  in- 
terview with  him  after  my  change!  I  used  to  be  much  at 
his  house,  and  he  was  very  much  my  friend.  At  length, 
the  dreaded  interview  took  place ;  I  tarried  with  him  over 
night,  under  his  own  roof;  he  said  not  a  word  to  me  on  the 
subject;  but  the  next  morning,  after  setting  me  over  the 
river  that  runs  by  his  door,  in  a  canoe,  he  stood  on  the  op- 
posite bank,  and  gave  vent  to  his  feelings  in  tears  and  pas- 
sionate remonstrances.  This  was  a  hard  trial  to  me.  My 
God!  why  cannot  we  all  think  alike?  He  afterwards 
heard  me  a  few  times,  and  expressed,  very  candidly,  his 
conviction,  that,  although  my  error  was  great,  yet  it  was 
exceedingly  plausible  and  very  difficult  of  refutation. 

During  those  days,  I  fell  into  my  old  sin  of  making 
verses — my  rambles  in  those  woods  seemed  to  inspire  me 
with  that  sort  of  mania — and  I  really  had  the  presumption 
to  project  a  poem,  of  serious  length  and  pretentions,  to  be 
entitled  The  Suicide's  Grave.  I  composed  some  seventy 
or  eighty  stanzas  of  it,  but  relinquished  my  task,  whilst  it 


86         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

was  yet  in  a  fragmentary  state,  having  neither  a  beginnings 
nor  an  end.  The  reader  will,  1  hope,  pardon  my  vanity, 
in  spreading  before  him  what  I  can  now  remember  of  it; 
which  I  do  in  the  hope  that  he  will  like  the  sentiment  if 
ttot  the  poetry. 


Thus  musing,  as  at  eventide  I  stray'd, 
Pushing  through  forest  deep  my  pathless  way — 
'Twas  autumn,  when  the  leaves  do  fall  and  fade, 
And  driven  by  the  wind,  in  whirling  circles  play. 

A  brook,  meandering  in  its  course,  flowed  there; 
On  its  green  verge  I  sought  a  while  to  stroll. 
Thinking  of  Kedron,  and  the  Garden,  where 
The  Savior  oft  pour'd  forth  the  sorrows  of  his  soul. 

^    And  oft,  me  thought,  when  birds  had  sought  their  nest, 
When  prowling  wolves,  in  quest  of  prey,  did  hie, 
The  "  man  of  sorrows"  sought  a  place  of  rest ; 

Perchance  some  shelt'ring  shade,  on  leafy  couch  to  lie. 

The  nightingale  suppress'd  its  sonnets  then, 
And  mutely  all  night  long  its  vigils  kept. 
The  beast  of  prey  slunk  hungry  to  his  den. 
And  all  was  silence  where  the  homeless  Savior  slept. 

Not  long  I  rambled  in  this  musing  mood, 
E'er  lol  a  solitary  grave  I  spied  I 
Between  two  stately  chesnut  trees  it  stood. 
On  one  of  which  was  carv'd,  "  Here  lies  a  suicide.'? 

Two  r\ide  unsculptur'd  stones,  its  length  defined; 
(Nothing  they  tell  of  him  that  sleeps  beneath;) 
The  chesnut,  hemlock,  beech  and  ash  combin'd, 
To  throw  a  sombre  gloom  o'er  that  abode  of  death. 

No  object  could  I  see  which  bore  a  date. 
Informing  when  this  lonely  grave  v/as  built. 
Alas!  poor  suicide!     'Twas  thy  hard  fate. 
To  leave  no  trace  behind,  but  this  brief  tale  of  guilt. 

I  wonder  why  thou  sleepest  here  alone! 
What,  could  th'j  common  dead  object,  I  pray, 
If  'mong  theirs  some  friend  should  rear  thy  stone. 
Or  in  a  neighb'ring  grave  thy  harmless  bones  should  lay? 

No  gen'rous  sexton  ever  comes  this  way, 
To  kf^ep  thy  mould'ring  mansion  in  repair; 
And  T  suspect,  that  on  thy  burial  day. 
No  priest  did  consecrate  this  lonely  spot  with  prayer. 


OF   A   TTNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  87 

The  priest,  I  trow,  and  Leyite,  will  pass  by 
On  t'  other  side,  when  thy  rude  grave  they  see; 
The  Pharisee  will  upward  roll  his  eye. 
And  proudly  thank  his  God  that  he  is  not  like  thee. 

But  now  and  then  a  kind  Samaritan 
Will  pause  and  weep  in  pity  for  thy  fate; 
And  meet  it  is  that  man  should  weep  for  man, 
Since  in  one  lot  of  tears  all  must  participate. 

But  thy  case  is  the  worst  that  can  be  nam'd, 
If  all  is  true  which  priests  and  poets  tell; 
Thou  sinkest  deeper  than  the  common  dam'd, 
For  they,  it  seems,  wont  keep  thee  company  in  hell.* 

No  doubt,  if  man  could  hurl  the  bolts  of  heaven, 
'Twould  fare  full  hard  with  wretches  not  a  few; 
Millions  to  endless  anguish  would  be  driven. 
For  what  they  did  on  earth,  or  what  they  failed  to  do. 

But  God,  the  righteous  "judge  of  all  the  earth," 
On  equal  principles  thy  cause  hath  tried: 
He  knoweth  all  are  frail,  of  human  birth, 
And  he  is  goed  and  just — So  rest  thee,  suicide. 

Then  turning  to  the  bank,  (for  want  of  spade) 
I  loossned  with  my  hands   the  grassy  sod. 
Which  in  the  breaches  of  the  grave  I  laid; 
And  oh!  my  heart  beat  high,  for  none  beheld  but  G»d. 

Now  night  had  o'er  the  silent  scene  around. 
Her  star-bespangled  robe  of  darkness  thrown — 
I  turn'd  me  to  depart,  when,  from  the  ground, 
Methought  a  voice  addressed  me.  in  sepulchral  tone: 

**Stay,  generous  stranger,  listen  to  my  woes; 
Since  thou  dost  condescend  to  pity  me: 
I  hope,  whene'er  thine  earthly  life  shalt  close. 
Thou  may'st  not  want  a  friend  to  mend  thy  grave  for  the«. 

But  little  of  my  transitory  span 
It  was  my  fortune  with  the  rich  to  spend; 
In  poverty  and  sorrow,  I  began 
That  being,  which  in  poverty  and  grief  did  end. 

I  was  an  orphan  at  an  early  age ; 
My  father  bled  upon  a  foreign  shore: 
His  spirit  sped  amid  the  battle's  rage, 
And  left  his  wife  and  babe  in  sadness  to  deplore. 


*  So  saith  Rev.  Dr.  Blair,  (father  of  the  celebrcted  Hugh  Blair,) 
in  a  poem  entitled,  The  Grave.  Reverend  Doctors  must  know  all 
ftbout  such  things;  hence,  when  I  wish  to  know  more  of  hell  than 
it  has  pleased  God  to  inform  me  in  his  word,  I  go  to  them  for  in- 
struction. 


88         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

But  soon  that  last,  best  friend,  my  mother,  died : 
In  her  alas!  I  lost  my  earthly  all. 
Her  burial  came;  I  wept  at  her  grave  side; 
I  heard  the  rumbling  clods  upon  her  coffin  fall. 

Then,  among  wolves  which  prowl  this  desert  drear, 
A  lonely  lamb  without  a  fold,  I  stray'd. 
No  shepherd's  aid,  no  friendly  crook  was  near, 
To  guide  my  infant  feet,  to  lead  to  friendly  shade^ 

The  laughing  lustre  of  my  eye  grew  dim, 
A  melancholy  on  my  spirits  prey'd ; 
My  cup  was  fill'd  with  sorrow  to  the  brim; 
The  rose  that  used  to  sit  upon  my  cheek  did  fade. 

Stranger,  is  yours  an  hospitable  world, 
Its  pity  to  the  wretched  to  deny? 
Should  friendless  scoffs  and  sneers  at  those  be  hurl'd, 
Who  have  no  gold  wherewith *its  charities  to  buy? 

Oh,  why  should  man  'gainst  pity  arm  his  breast? 
Since  he  to  death  and  wo  is  surely  heir; 
Why  should  he  spurn  his  brother  when  oppress'd, 
And  frown  a  darker  night  upon  hia  soul's  despair?'* 

I  Stop  here;  my  memory  can  furnish  no  more,  and  the 
reader  will,  I  fear,  be  disposed  to  quarrel  with  me  for  re* 
taining  so  much;  yet  his  charity  will  incline  him  to  excuse 
the  vanity,  so  common,  of  an  affection  for  the  effusions  of 
my  early  muse.  My  mind,  it  will  be  perceived,  was  sub- 
ject to  occasional  touches  of  melancholy — inseparable  from 
a  versifying  propensity,  are  they  not? — these,  however, 
were  of  very  brief  duration — the  shadows  of  April  clouda 
passing  over  the  sunny  landscape  of  my  happiness. 

For  a  full  year  I  continued  to  preach  Universalism  on 
the  same  independent  footing  that  I  had  formerly  main- 
tained as  an  orthodox  preacher;  nor  knew  I,  indeed,  that 
there  existed  any  Universalist  societies  out  of  the  large 
towns,  until,  in  the  summer  of  1830,  I  revisited  Philadel- 
phia, and  had  an  interview  with  Abel  C.  Thomas,  then  pas- 
tor of  Lombard  street  church  in  that  city.  On  the  Sun- 
day previous  to  that  interview,  I  preached  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  Bear  Tavern,  Bucks  county,  where  I  had  often 
preached  my  former  doctrines.  My  text  was,  "  He  that 
believeth  not  shall  be  damned;"  in  the  course  of  my  ser- 
mon I  introduced,  as  illustrative  of  the  mystical  creeds 
which  are  apt  to  be  imposed  upon  young  minds,  soma 
strangely  contradictory  passages  from  the  creed  of  Atha- 
nasius,  which  I  had  been  compelled  to  commit,  as  an  essen- 


OF    A    UNIVEKSALIST    PREACHER.  B9 

tial  part  of  my  education,  when  a  boy.  It  happened  that 
a  Sunday  school,  with  its  superintendent  and  teachers, 
•composed  a  part  of  mj^  audience,  and  as  this  part  of  my  dis- 
course bore  hardly  upon  their  practice,  they  sat  somewhat 
uneasy  under  it;  the  superintendent,  in  particular — a  zeal- 
ous Presbyterian,  who,  previous  to  my  change  of  faith, 
had  more  than  once  entertained  me  at  his  house — was  so 
exasperated  that,  forgetful  of  common  decency,  he  arose 
and  called  me  a  liar;  denying  that  there  existed  such  a 
ci-eed  as  the  Athanasian!  1  calmly  told  him  he  was  at  lib- 
erty to  leave  the  meeting,  which  he  did,  reiterating  his 
abuse,  and  calling  upon  the  rest  of  the  audience  to  follow 
his  example,  which  some  did;  but  the  large  majority,  who 
remained,  gave  the  closer  attention  for  this  indecorous  in- 
terruption. At  the  close  of  the  meeting,  a  gentleman  of 
Quaker  origin  and  connections,  Joshua  Dungan,  invited 
me  to  his  house,  telling  me  that  though  of  a  contrary  faith, 
he  could  not  but  admire  my  straight  forward  and  independ- 
ent course.  An  hours  conversation  at  their  house,  suf- 
ficed to  convince  both  him  and  his  wife  of  the  truth  of  my 
doctrines,  and  our  intimacy  and  unity  of  faith  continue  un- 
changed to  the  present  day. 

In  my  first  interview  with  Mr,  Thomas,  it  was  not  my 
design  to  make  myself  known  to  him,  as  a  Universalist — 
the  reader  will  be  at  no  loss  for  ihe  reason — I  wished  not 
to  connect  myself  with  a  sect.  When,  however,  he  in- 
formed me  that  a  member  of  his  congregation,  being  the 
Sunday  previous  on  a  visit  at  Addisville,  had  heard  a 
young  man — previously  of  orthodox  faith — deliver  him- 
self of  a  Universalist  sermon,  in  a  plain  and  fearless  man- 
ner; I  could  not  refrain  from  informing  him  that  I  was  that 
young  man;  at  which  announcement  he  was  highly  elated, 
for  accessions  to  the  Universalist  ministry,  were  not  then, 
as  now,  a  circumstance  of  weekly  occurrence.  He  inquir- 
ed, if  I  did  not  mean  to  attach  myself  to  the  denomination? 
I  gave  him  my  objections  to  that  measure,  and,  one  by  one, 
he  overturned  them,  with  that  ease  of  argument  for  which 
he  is  distinguished.  My  first  was,  that  sectarianism  leads 
to  exclusiveness  of  feeling;  one  will  naturally,  I  argued, 
feel  a  closer  tie  between  himself  and  another  of  his  own 
sect,  than  in  relation  to  another  who  is  out  of  its  pale 
Mr.  T.  settled  this  point  by  asking  me  to  determine,  can- 
didly, whether,  ever  standing  aloof  from  party  ties,  I  could 
avoid  feeling  a  preference  for  those  who  believed  in  com- 
7 


do  EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

moil  with  myself,  over  others  of  a  contrary  faith?  I  was 
forced,  on  reflection,  to  acknowledge  that  this  is  not  avoid- 
able. My  second  objection  was,  that  sects  usually  adopt 
their  doctrines  by  system,  instead  of  subjecting  each  one 
to  a  separate  investigation,  and  that  thence  it  follows  that 
they  retain  particular  dogmas,  after  reason  has  demon- 
strated their  absurdity,  because  they  happen  to  be  part  and 
parcel  of  the  system.  To  this  it  was  answered,  that  Uni- 
versalists  have  no  creed  to  which  their  faith  is  required  to 
conform,  but  that  each  individual  is  left  at  liberty  to  form 
his  own  creed  from  the  Bible,  and  is  only  responsible 
therefor  to  his  God  and  his  conscience.  Thus  was  my 
second  objection  disposed  of.  My  third  was,  that  a  hire- 
ling ministry  was  anti-christian,  etc.  This  was  my  strong 
point.  My  intimacy  with  Theophilus  Gates,  with  the 
Friends,  and  the  people  called  Christians,  had  led  me  to 
think  that  a  hireling  ministry  was  the  central  source  of 
all  spiritual  wickedness;  that  the  beast,  coming  out  of  the 
bottomless  pit,  having  seven  heads  and  ten  horns — that 
the  great  dragon,  the  switch  of  whose  enormous  tail  swept 
a  third  part  of  the  stars  from  heaven — that  Apollion, 
Abaddon — in  short,  all  the  hobgoblins  portrayed  in  the 
Apocalypse,  were  so  many  diversified  symbols  of  this  grand 
central  abomination.  Mr.  T.  asked  me  to  show  reason 
why  time  and  talent,  devoted  to  the  offices  of  the  ministry, 
may  not  as  lawfully  claim  remuneration,  as  the  same  de- 
voted to  any  other  employment?  For  the  life  of  me  I 
could  not  tell  why.  You,  for  instance,  are  about  publish- 
ing a  book,  he  added;  do  you  purpose  giving  that  to  the 
public,  gratis?  I  answered;  certainly  not,  because  its  pro- 
duction cost  me  both  time  and  money.  Very  good,  he  re- 
plied, and  is  not  the  time  you  devote  to  study  for  the  pul- 
pit, the  expense  incurred  in  traveling  to  fill  appointments, 
and  procuring  the  books  needful  to  aid  your  studies,  are 
these  not  equivalent  to  time  and  expenditure  engaged  in 
any  other  vocation?  I  could  not  but  answer  affirmatively 
to  these  questions;  and  thus,  forever,  vanished  my  silly 
objections  to  what  I  termed  sectarianism,  and  a  hireling 
ministry. 

The  book  referred  to,  which  I  was  then  about  to  publish, 
was  entitled,  Charles  and  Henry,  ajiction,  illustrative  of  the 
spirit  and  temper  which  characterize  the  Christian  church  in 
the  present  age.  It  was  to  have  been  issued  in  twelve  num- 
bers, of  twenty-four  pages  each,  duodecimo,  but  owing  to 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  91 

a  misunderstanding  with  the  printer,  only  seventy  two 
pages  were  written,  and  forty-eight  printed.  I  can  say 
nothing  of  its  merits,  as  compared  with  my  late  produc- 
tions. I  have  written  nothing  like  it  since,  notwithstand- 
ing that  I  think  the  plan  was  good,  and  might,  in  able 
hands,  have  been  made  effective  in  the  cause  of  religious 
reformation.  Its  dramatis  personce  were  the  heroes  named 
in  the  title — Rev.  Job  Thunderwell,  Deacon  VVobegone. 
Rev.  Erasmus  Surplice,  pastor  of  St.  Giles'  Church,  Nehe- 
miah  Toll,  sexton  of  the  same,  Dolly  Toll,  his  wife,  etc.; 
Oh!  yes,  and  Elder  Turn-to-the-Lord,  whose  pardon  I  crave 
for  not  placing  him  foremost  on  the  list,  seeing  that  he 
was  the  most  redoubtable  of  personages,  not  even  except- 
ing the  Rev.  John  Thunderwell ;  for  "  not  the  least  amongst 
the  thousands  of  Israel" — so  ran  the  account — "  was  Elder 
Tobias  Turn-to-the-Lord,  far  be  it  from  the  author  to  have 
him  so  accounted, — no,  he  was  a  genuine  vessel  of  mercy, 
after  the  strictest  orthodox,  Quaker-hanging,  blue-law- 
making,  Sunday-mail-stopping  stamp;  he  could  quote  you 
the  hereditary  descent  of  his  religious  faith,  from  his 
grandfathers  great  great  grandfather,  down  through  every 
link  of  the  descending  chain  to  his  unworthy  but  elected 
self;  nor  had  a  single  instance  of  heresy  occured  in  this 
Godly  line,  save  in  the  case  of  his  immediate  progenitor, 
who,  as  the  elder  used  to  say,  was  too  much  given  to  ex- 
exercise  his  carnal  reason  and  profane  understanding  in 
regard  to  these  sacred  mysteries,  wherefore  it  seemed  unto 
the  outward  eye,  that  the  heavenly  Potter  had  seen  fit,  in 
his  marvellous  wisdom,  to  mould  him  unto  dishonor,  but,'' 
etc.  There  is  always  a  but,  thou  knowest,  reader,  between 
our  dear  friends  and  the  doom  of  endless  wo  we  contem- 
plate for  others;  and,  I  need  hardly  say  that  it  so  turned 
out  at  last  in  respect  to  the  Elder's  father.  This  saving 
hutj  it  must  be  owned,  is  a  convenient  salvo  to  the  dis- 
comforts of  an  endless  hell  belief. 

My  first  sermon  to  the  Universalists  was  delivered  in 
Mr.  Thomas'  church  on  Lombard  street;  my  second,  in  the 
Callowhill  street  church,  of  which  Zelotes  Fuller  was 
then  the  pastor.  From  these  gentlemen  I  received  my  first 
credential  as  a  Universalist  minister.  In  the  fall  follow- 
ing, at  the  instance  of  Mr.  Thomas,  I  visited  the  church  in 
Brooklyn,  Susquehanna  county,  Pennsylvania,  of  whose  ex- 
istence I  was  previously  ignorant,  although  the  distance  to  it 
from  the  home  of  my  wife  was  but  forty  miles.    It  had  been 


92  EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

for  two  years  destitute  of  a  pastor,"and  had  lost,  by  death, 
the  only  two  it  had  successively  had  ;  first,  Amos  Crandel, 
and  after  him,  Charles  R.  Marsh.  Susquehanna  county 
is  also  in  the  Beech  Woods,  but  its  forest  is  less  dense  and 
gloomy  than  is  that  of  Wayne  and  a  part  of  Pike  counties; 
although  even  it  will  seem  sufficiently  so  to  a  stranger 
passing  through  it.  It  is  a  continuous  series  of  very  high 
hills  and  narrow  vales,  but,  notwithstanding  the  face  of 
the  ground  is  generally  smooth  and  covered  with  grass  to 
the  summits  of  the  loftiest  ridges,  it  admits  of  and  containfi! 
a  numerous  and  thriving  population,  who  are  mostly  na- 
tives of  New  England,  or  their  immediate  descendants; 
and  a  more  industrious,  moral,  and  enlightened  communi- 
ty is  not  to  be  found  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

Before  1  visited  this  people,  I  had  heard  much  of  the  evil 
practical  tendencies  of  Universalism.  I  had  been  told  that 
man  is  naturally  so  corrupt,  that  he  needs  the  restraint 
which  the  fear  of  interminable  wo  imposes,  and  that  if 
such  restraint  is  withdrawn,  his  evil  nature  will  manifest 
itself  in  every  frightful  form  of  guilt  conceivable,  etc. 
etc.  I  had  no  means  of  determining  the  truth  or  falsity  of 
these  representations  by  personal  observation;  I  knew  not 
but  they  might  be  true;  they  either  were  so,  or  a  great 
many  people  were  very  much  mistaken  —  but,  then, 
might  not  these  same  great  many  people  be  also  very 
much  prejudiced?  Everything  is  not  true,  I  was  aware, 
which  a  great  many  people  think  to  be  so,  otherwise  Bud- 
hism  is  true,  Mahominedism  is  true.  Reasoning  from  the 
principles  of  Universalism,  I  could  not  avoid  coming  to  a 
different  conclusion.  If,  in  the  moral  world,  as  in  the  nat- 
ural, causes  produce  effects  like  themselves,  I  could  not 
account  how  the  constant  contemplation  of  divine  love 
should  produce  hatred;  nor  the  contemplation  of  holiness, 
as  the  ultimate  condition  of  our  whole  race,  produce  sin; 
nor  that  of  divine  mercy,  as  exercised  toward  universal 
humanity,  produce  cruelty  or  revenge.  Still,  j'acts^  it 
must  be  owned,  will  sometimes  overturn  the  most  plausi- 
ble theories,  and  I  knew  not  but  what  it  might  be  so  in  re- 
spect to  Universalism.  I  had  my  own  experience  to  judge 
from,  it  is  true,  but  what  boots  it  to  say  how  that  decided? 
and  partiality  for  one's  own  sweet  self,  moreover,  is  apt  to 
warp  the  decision  rendered  from  that  source.  When, 
however,  I  had  been  among  the  Universalists  of  Susque- 
hanna county,  I  enjoyed  the  highest  degree  of  satisfaction 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  93 

as  to  the  practical  tendencies  of  my  new  faith;  1  thought 
I  had  never  been  amongst  a  people  who  so  nearly  fulfilled 
uiy  ideal  of  social  perfection.  1  am  quite  aware  that,  as  a 
visitor,  I  saw  little  besides  the  brighter  tints  of  the  picture; 
nevertheless,  after  a  subsequent  residence  in  that  region 
for  four  years,  I  hesitate  not  to  ratify  the  general  truth 
of  the  first  impression. 

For  the  memories  of  both  their  deceased  pastors  the 
Universalists  of  Susquehanna  had  a  deep  regard  ;  they 
lie  side  by  side  in  their  burial-ground  in  Brooklyn,  and 
a  single  marble  slab  covers  both  their  graves.  The  latter 
of  them,  Charles  R.  Marsh,  was  but  a  few  years  past  his 
minority,  when  he  died  of  pulmonary  consumption;  he 
was  a  good  scholar,  an  eloquent  preacher,  and  an  emi- 
nently amiable  young  man.  During  the  two  last  years 
of  his  life  he  published  a  semi-monthly  paper,  entitled 
the  Candid  Examiner;  in  the  course  of  its  first  volume, 
an  eminent  Methodist  minister  entered  its  columns,  in 
discussion  with  the  editor,  and  continued  his  articles  until 
the  failing  health  of  Mr.  Marsh  compelled  him  to  discon- 
tinue the  paper;  he  shortly  afterwards  yielded  up  his 
young  and  valuable  life.  Scarcely  was  he  deposited  in 
his  grave,  ere  his  ungenerous  correspondent  collected  his 
own  articles,  and  republished  them  in  book  form,  without 
the  replies;  and  in  addition  thereto,  he  set  forth,  in  his 
preface,  that  Mr.  Marsh  had  discontinued  the  controversy 
from  a  fear  of  his  opponent's  arguments!  So  far  was  this 
from  the  truth,  that  the  editor  had  fully  met  and  fairly 
refuted  everything  in  the  shape  of  argument  in  his  oppo- 
nent's articles,  although  the  controversy  was  a  tax  upon 
his  wasting  life,  which  few  besides  would  have  submitted 
to,  for  his  correspondent  writing  a  very  illegible  hand, 
the  editor  had  to  decipher  and  rewrite  his  tediously  prolix 
articles  for  the  printer,  besides  composing  replies  thereto, 
together  with  all  the  other  toils  attendant  on  his  twofold 
occupation  of  clergyman  and  journalist.  But,  in  truth, 
his  correspondent  belonged  to  the  class  of  disputants  of 
whom  Goldsmith's  Village  Schoolmaster  was  a  sample  : 

"In  a.rguin,!T,  too,  the  parson  owned  his  skill, 
For  e'en  when  vanquished,  he  could  argue  still." 

What,  for  example,  could  penetrate  the  moral  obstuse- 
ness  of  a  man,  who,  rather  than  concede  himself  to  be 
worsted  in  a  single  point,  contended  strenuously  that  the 


94  EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS  ^ 

adverb  still  implies  duration  without  end?  "He  that  is 
filthy,  let  him  be  filthy  still,"  was  one  of  his  proof  texts^ 
and  he  actually  raised  an  argument  for  the  endlessness  of 
the  sinner's  condition  in  eternity,  on  the  word  still!  Of 
what  avail  were  appeals  to  the  reason  of  a  man,  more* 
over,  who  deliberately  penned,  and  in  his  republication 
repeated  the  following  sentiment :  "  We  hold  to  no  inde* 
pendent  agency  in  man;  he  has  power  to  damn  himself^ 
indeed,  but  none  to  save  himself?"  The  reader  will 
doubtless  agree  with  me,  that  argument  was  thrown  away^ 
on  poor  Mr.  Marsh's  part,  in  so  unequal  a  contest  as  thia. 
Yet  this  same  correspondent  occupies,  at  this  present 
time,  one  of  the  highest  editorial  positions  within  the 
control  of   the   Methodist  church. 

The  writing  an  answer  to  the  republished  arguments  of 
this  same  correspondent  was  my  first  literary  employ- 
ment as  a  Universalist — an  accredited  Universalist,  I  mean. 
This  occupied  my  intervals  of  leisure  during  the  winter 
of  1830-'31,  and  made  a  work  of  one  hundred  and  sixty 
pages,  duodecimo — about  the  size  of  the  work  reviewed* 
1  was  then  residing  in  a  settlement  called  Paupack,  in 
Pike  county,  about  eight  miles  from  the  home  of  my 
wife's  family.  It  was  an  old  settlement  as  compared  with 
the  settlements  around  it;  its  original  stock  of  inhabitants 
were  from  Connecticut,  and  they  were  most  of  them  yet 
living,  at  a  very  advanced  age,  surrounded  by  their  off- 
spring of  two  generations.  Very  original  characters 
were  some  of  them,  combining  great  simplicity  with 
uncommon  shrewdness;  free-thinkers  in  religion;  honest 
and  punctual  in  their  dealings;  ungrudgingly  hospitable 
to  strangers;  and  industrious  beyond  any  people  I  had 
ever  seen.  A  great  horror  of  priestcraft  had  these  Pau- 
packers,  and  reason  good,  for  at  the  time  of  their  resi- 
dence in  Connecticut  the  Congregational  priesthood  bore 
rule  ;  their  support  by  the  people  was  compulsory.  A 
poor  man's  cow,  or  other  indispensable  chattel,  was  liable 
to  seizure  for  the  payment  of  the  clerical  tax;  and  a 
layman,  as  those  old  settlers  used  to  tell,  had  to  pull  off 
his  hat  and  carry  it  under  his  arm  as  the  priest  rode  by.. 
It  may  be  conceived,  therefore,  that  the  Paupackers  had 
little  love  for  Presbyterianism.  I  may  term  the  year  or 
more  of  my  residence  amongst  that  people,  the  comedy  of 
7ny  life,  for  never  before  nor  since  was  my  mirthfulness 
taxed  to  an  equal  degree.     Each  of  these  old  folks  was 


OF   A    UNI  VERS  ALIST   PREACHER.  9(i> 

an  oddity  in  his  own  way,  different  from  each  other,  and 
from  every  body  else  in  the  world.  I  have  had  several 
severe  struggles  with  myself  to  repress  a  propensity  for 
writing  a  novel,  in  which  those  personages  should  be 
made  to  act  their  appropriate  parts;  assuredly  if  the 
world  did  not  already  so  teem  with  books  of  the  kind,  J 
should  fiTid  it  hard  to  resist  the  temptation. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

Two  night  adventures  in  the  woods — Wide  extent  of  his  circuit  of 
Ministerial  Labors — Tour  to  Dover  Plains,  N.  Y.,  and  Danbury, 
Ct. — Praying  and  unpraying  men  compared — Coincidencies  which 
seemed  providential — Rambles  and  adventures  in  Bradford  county 
— Peculiar  Character  of  the  opposition  to  Universalism — Several 
instances  thereof  related — An  amusing  affair  at  Cudderbackville 
— Affair  at  a  Camp-meeting — A  controversial  tilt  or  two — Affair 
at  an  Inquiry  meeting,  with  an  exposition  of  Acts  i. — Affair 
with  a  termagant. 

In  the  Spring  of  1831  I  accepted  an  invitation  from 
the  society  in  Brooklyn  to  become  their  pastor,  and  took 
wp  my  residence  there  accordingly.  It  was  not  without 
much  timidity  that  I  took  this  step;  I  was  young,  unread 
in  Universalism,  having  never  read  a  single  treatise  on 
the  subject,  and  had  been  preceded  in  the  station  by 
eminently  gifted  and  excellent  men;  I  lacked  not  for 
opposition,  moreover,  both  from  within  the  society  itself 
and  from  without;  that,  to  me,  was  a  season  of  severe 
trial;  thank  God,  I  passed  through  unharmed!  It  is  hard, 
however,  to  defend  a  citadel  from  the  assaults  of  the  foe 
without,  whilst  there  exist  dissensions  amongst  the  garri- 
son within.  Well,  I  will  pass  those  things  as  lightly  and 
briefly  as  possible;  they  are  not  of  the  kind  my  mind 
loves  to  dwell  upon,  and  I  am  far  from  thinking,  severe  as 
then  seemed  the  furnace  of  trial  through  which  I  passed, 
that  I  suffered  a  single  unnecessary  pang.  Heaven  makes 
no  mistakes  in  apportioning  our  trials  to  us;  if  mine,  in 
the  course  of  my  life,  have  exceeded  the  ordinary  sum, 
which  I  cannot  but  think  is  the  case,  though  doubtless 
each  one  thinks  the  same  of  his  own,  he  who  "  tempers 
the  wind  to  the  shorn  lamb,"  endowed  me  with  a  natural 
buoyancy  of  spirit  which  has  well  enabled  me  to  bear 
them. 


96  EXPEEIjBNCE,   LABORS,   AND    TRA\':ELS 

My  life  began  now  to  be  a  busy  and  laborious  on& 
indeed  :  my  field  was  wide  enough  at  the  first  to  keep  me- 
well  employed,  and  my  anxiety  to  comply  with  every  call,, 
tended  continually  to  widen  it,  yntil,  ere  I  terminated  my 
stay  in  that  region,  it  had  extended  to  a  hundred  miles  in 
every  direction  from  the  central  point,  and,  consequently^ 
was  full  six  hundred  miles  in  circumference.  My  long 
rides,  nevertheless,  did  not  prevent  me  from  gratifying 
my  thirst  for  knowledge;  my  habit  was  to  carry  books 
with  me  and  read  them  as  }  journeyed.  My  contempt  for 
illiterate  clergymen  stimulated  me  to  exertions  to  avoid 
being  one  of  that  sort  myself.  A  preacher,  indeed,  may 
be  excusable  for  being  ignorant  when  he  sets  out  in  his 
profession,  but  nothing  can  excuse  his  contenting  himself 
to  remain  so.     So  I  then  thought,  and  so  I  think  still. 

My  father-in-law's  residence  is  in  one  of  the  rudest  and 
most  inaccessible  parts  of  the  beech  wilderness  afore 
described ;  still  his  farm  itself  is  smooth,  and  easily  culti- 
vable, being  composed  of  bottom-lands  which  skirt  a 
branch  of  the  Lackawaxen  river;  but  it  is  hemed  in  by 
huge  hills,  and  by  vast  extents  of  the  primeval  forests, 
upon  whose  silence  the  sounds  of  human  life  have  little 
intruded;  there  skulks  the  wolf,  and  there  the  rattlesnake 
gives  out  his  note  of  warning;  the  wildcat  also,  and  the 
more  formidable  panther,  are  sometimes  to  be  met  with 
there.  Journeying  thitherward  for  my  wife,  shortly  after 
my  settlement  at  Brooklyn,  I  left  my  vehicle  at  a  point 
within  six  miles  of  the  place,  at  Salem  Corners,  on  account 
of  its  being  impossible  to  reach  it  by  that  mode  of  travel. 
Night  overtook  me  ere  1  had  gone  over  one  third  part  of 
those  six  miles;  it  was  not  a  road  to  be  hurried  over  even 
in  daylight;  one's  way  had  to  be  picked  among  rocks, 
rotten  logs,  hemlock  roots,  etc.;  besides  climbing  steep 
and  difficult  hills,  and  descending  to  deep  hollows.  These 
circumstances,  added  to  the  necessarily  intense  darkness 
of  a  path  completely  overarched  by  the  interlacing  limbs  of 
trees  more  than  a  hundred  feet  in  altitude,  rendered  one's 
progress  slow  indeed,  and  one's  eyes  of  but  little  use  to 
him.  For  myself,  letting  the  bridle-rein  lie  on  my  horse's 
neck,  I  left  him  to  pick  his  own  way  as  best  he  could;  he 
proceeding  by  sight  and  scent,  and  I  by  faith.  We  had 
got  to  within  a  mile  or  so  of  my  father-in-law's,  when, 
with  the  suddenness  of  lightning,  my  horse  leaped  from 
under  me  in  a  lateral  direction,  and  I  found  myself  at  my 


OF    A   UNI  VERS  ALIST    PREACHER.  97 

length  on  mother  earth,  with  a  sprained  wrist,  and  some- 
what stunned  withal.  What  had  startled  him  I  know  not, 
but  suppose  it  may  have  been  a  deer,  as  that  sort  of 
animals  were  numerous  thereabout.  At  all  events,  in 
going  after  my  horse,  who  also  came  to  meet  me,  I  got 
inextricably  bewildered,  and  concluded  to  take  up  my 
lodgings  where  I  was.  So,  after  stripping  my  horse  of 
saddle  and  bridle,  that  he  might  be  free  to  run  in  case 
of  an  attack,  1  tramped  down  some  bushes  for  my  bed,  on 
which,  with  my  saddle  for  a  pillow,  and  my  cloak  for  a 
covering,  I  soon  sunk  to  sleep.  My  slumbers,  however, 
could  not  have  been  deep,  for  I  was  aroused  ere  long  by 
what  seemed  the  crash  of  a  limb  of  the  tree  at  my  head. 
I  sprang  up  in  a  sitting  posture,  never  more  sure  of  any- 
thing than  that  a  panther  in  the  tree  had  caused  that 
ci'ash,  and  that  in  a  moment  more  I  should  be  his  prey.  I 
then  remembered  that  my  brother-in-law  had  told  me  of 
having  fallen  in  with  one  but  a  week  before,  in  that  very 
vicinity.  Resistance,  or  flight,  I  knew  would  be  utterly 
unavailing,  and  folding  my  arms  across  my  breast,  and 
bowing  my  head  on  my  arms,  I  awaited  the  panther's 
spring.  My  feeling  was  not  that  of  terror,  but  of  awe 
and  solemnity;  I  felt  as  one  standing  out  on  a  far-project- 
ing promontory  of  time,  and  looking  out  on  the  wide  and 
unexplored  expanse  beyond,  and,  as  God  shall  judge  me, 
I  saw  there  nothing  to  affright,  but  much  to  humble  and 
subdue  me.  However,  as  the  leap  did  not  come,  after 
waiting  for  it  a  reasonable  time,  I  began  to  hold  a  counsel 
within  myself,  as  to  what  other  cause  may  have  produced 
that  crash.  Whilst  I  was  revolving  this  inquiry,  my 
horse,  who  was  picking  for  grass  at  a  little  distance,  pro- 
duced a  similar  crash,  by  treading  on  a  rotten  branch 
which  broke  under  his  weight;  this  quite  satisfied  me  that 
tlie  former  noise  must  have  proceeded  from  the  same 
cause,  but  as  I  then  was  partially  asleep,  and  my  ear  near 
tlie  ground,  it  had  seemed  louder  and  to  have  come  in  a 
different  direction.  Upon  this  I  laid  down  again,  quite 
free  from  apprehension,  and  slept  tranquilly  till  morning, 
when  I  found  my  horse  still  grazing  near  me,  and  myself 
was  none  the  worse,  save  that  my  sprained  wrist  was 
considerably  swollen. 

A  few  nights  after  the  above  adventure,  I  had  another^ 
from  which  I  got  off  somewhat  less  cheaply.  Again  be- 
nighted,  I  was  proceeding  towards  my  father-in-law's,  as 


98  EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

before,  but  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  when  I  was 
suddenly  brought  to  a  halt  by  a  large  tree,  which  had 
fallen  across  the  road :  a  rain  was  falling,  and  the  night 
was  uncommonly  dark.  To  make  a  circuit  around  a  fallen 
tree  in  that  country,  even  by  day,  is  a  thing  easier  thought 
of  than  done,  for  besides  the  brokenness  of  the  ground,  it 
is  thickly  covered  with  undergrowths  of  various  kinds. 
Well,  being  resolved  not  to  be  a  second  time  baffled  of 
reaching  quarters  for  the  night,  I  stripped  my  horse,  and 
leaving  him  to  shift  for  himself  as  best  he  could,  I  endea- 
vored to  grope  my  way  to  the  bank  of  the  river  over 
against  my  father-in-law's  house.  But,  in  honest  truth,  1 
am  a  sorry  woodsman,  and  I  managed  to  lose  the  path  at 
the  very  commencement;  I  climbed  over  prostrate  trees — 
crept  under  others — forced  my  way  through  laurels  and 
briars — waded  through  boggy  morasses — clambered  over 
huge  rocks;  one  while  I  would  sink  down  from  sheer 
weakness  and  exhaustion,  and  anon  would  summon  new 
resolution,  and  push  on;  my  hat  was  stove  in  on  all  quar* 
ters — my  clothes  torn  to  tatters;  for  miles  I  must  have 
wandered,  amid  rain  and  darkness,  until,  about  midnight,  I 
heard  a  rush  of  waters,  which,  but  for  the  pattering  of 
the  rain  I  would  have  heard  earlier;  I  pushed  on  in  the 
direction  whence  the  sound  proceeded,  and  soon  saw  the 
dark  river  chafing  amongst  the  rocks  in  its  channel.  It 
would  have  awed  me  under  other  circumstances,  but  as  it 
was,  I  plunged  into  it,  as  eagerly  as  does  a  wounded  deer 
for  drink,  and  by  wading  and  swimming  alternately — foi? 
to  walk  along  its  margin  was  impossible — for  nearly  two 
miles,  I  arrived  at  my  father-in-law's  door  at  length,  in 
such  plight  as  is  not  easily  described.  Once,  on  my  way 
down  the  river,  I  had  caught  hold  of  a  bush  on  its  margin 
for  momentary  support,  but  was  soon  warned  off  by  the 
terrific  greeting  of  a  rattlesnake,  which  are  very  numer- 
ous in  that  vicinity;  need  1  tell  that  I  gave  a  ready  heed 
to  its  caution?  The  old  folks  were  much  alarmed  at  ths 
condition  I  was  in,  and  the  risk  I  had  run,  and  my  father- 
in-law,  who  perfectly  knew  the  difficulties  of  the  ground 
over  which  I  had  fought  my  way,  declared,  that  for  th« 
price  of  his  farm,  he  would  not  undertake  it  even  by  day- 
light, yet — with  the  exception  of  the  entire  loss  of  my 
clothes,  from  hat  to  shoes,  inclusive — I  escaped  wholly  un- 
injured. 

There  are  few  places  in  all  that  region  in  which  I  have 


OF    A   UNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  99 

not  lifted  my  voice  for  the  truth;  wherever  I  could  get  a 
-dozen  or  even  half  a  dozen  persons  to  hear  me.  I  went 
once,  in  midwinter,  eight  miles  from  a  public  road  to  preach 
to  one  family,  living  alone  in  the  woods;  their  name  was 
Simpson;  they  were  originally  from  England,  and  so  zeal- 
ously affected  in  the  good  cause  were  they,  that  whenever 
I  preached  in  Mt.  Pleasant,  ten  miles  from  their  resi- 
dence, they  were  sure  to  be  present,  although  they  had 
to  travel  the  distance  on  foot.  Besides  Brooklyn  and 
Harford,  in  Susquehanna  county,  between  which  places 
principally,  I  divided  my  Sabbaths,  I  used  to  preach  in 
Bethany,  seat  of  justice  for  Wayne  county;  in  Hones- 
dale,  at  the  head  of  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  canal,  in 
what  is  now  the  village  of  Prompton,  and  contains  a  neat 
Universalist  church,  but  was  then  the  residence  of  the 
Jenkins'  family  only;  in  Canaan;  in  the  Glass  Works  vil- 
lage; in  Riley's  Settlement;  in  Carbondale,  where  are  the 
Delaware  and  Hudson  coal  mines;  in  Centerville, Dundafi^ 
Greenfield,  New  Milford,  Montrose,  Bridgewater,  Standing 
Stone ;  in  what  is  now  Monroeton,  and  comprises  several 
churches,  including  a  Universalist,  but  was  then  no  village 
at  all;  in  Sheshequin,  Ulster,  Towanda — seat  of  justice 
for  Bradford  county;  in  Athens,  Factory ville,  at  Daggett's 
Mills,  etc.,  etc.;  these  in  Pennsylvania:  but  my  field  also 
embraced  numerous  places  in  the  counties  of  Tioga, 
Broome,  Chenango,  Delaware,  Ulster,  Greene,  Sullivan, 
Orange,  and  other  counties  in  New  York,  besides  many 
parts  of  Sussex,  Morris,  and  Essex  counties,  in  New  Jer- 
sey. My  vocation  it  will  be  conceded,  was  anything  but  a 
sinecure.  I  have  more  than  once  traveled  the  live-long 
night  in  order  to  meet  distant  appointments  :  having  done 
so  on  one  occasion,  I  became  so  benumbed  with  cold,  and 
jaded  with  fatigue  and  loss  of  sleep,  that,  when  about  day- 
break, I  knocked  at  the  door  of  a  worthy  couple,  named 
Worthington,  at  Orwell  Springs,  Bradford  county,  I  could 
little  more  command  my  tongue  than  though  I  were 
laboring  under  a  paralisis.  This  couple  were  Methodists 
by  membership,  but  Universalists  in  faith;  I  once  or  twice 
preached  in  their  house.  I  claim  little  credit  for  this 
severe  activity,  however,  for  my  turn  of  mind  and  pecu- 
liar constitution  rendered  it  at  once  both  agreeable  to  my 
inclination  and  beneficial  to  my  health.  Yet  I  must  do 
myself  the  justice  to  say,  that  on  the  score  of  motive^  I 
think  I  may  presume  to   claim  the  merit  of  sincerity,  at 


100         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

least,  if  not  of  an  ardent,  self-sacrificing,  and  self-forget- 
ting zeal.  I  stopped  not  at  any  time — God  knoweth,  yea, 
and  so  knoweth  all  who  know  me — to  consult  with  my  pri- 
vate interests;  when  a  call  came,  no  matter  from  whom  or 
whence,  my  first  impulse  was  to  meet  it,  and  when,  as  was 
often  the  case,  I  returned  from  a  visit  of  a  hundred  miles 
from  home,  with  as  empty  a  pocket  as  when  I  started,  I 
grudged  not  the  toil  and  time  bestowed,  if  I  but  felt  that  I 
had  not  labored  in  vain  in  respect  to  those  for  whom  I  made 
the  sacrifice.  That  I  sometimes  returned  home  with  an 
aching  and  bitter  heart,  I  will  not  hesitate  to  confess :  too 
often,  indeed,  have  I  beenwondering  what  my  family  would 
do  for  bread,  while  those  who  were  able  to  render  a  sub- 
stantial answer  to  that  question  have  been  loading  me  with 
eoiipty  thanks,  instead,  and  with  invitations  to  increase  my 
chances  of  starvation  by  visiting  them  again. 

When  I  had  been  something  over  a  year  in  Susquehanna 
county,  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  having  my  labors  there 
shared  by  Alfred  Peck,  an  able  preacher,  my  senior  in 
years  and  professional  standing.  He  fixed  his  residence 
at  Montrose,  the  county  seat,  whence  also  he  issued  a  semi- 
monthly paper,  of  which,  for  a  time,  1  acted  as  co-editor 
with  him;  it  ceased  at  the  close  of  his  second  year.  In 
that  paper  I  commenced  the  publishing  of  those  journals 
of  travel  with  which  1  have,  from  time  to  time,  taxed  the 
good  nature  of  our  several  periodical  readers  to  the  pre- 
sent day.  My  apology  is,  that  they  cost  but  little  mental 
labor,  and  gratify  my  propensity  for  description  and  nar- 
rative. In  what  remains  to  be  written  of  these  memoran- 
da I  shall  have  much  occasion  to  draw  upon  those  docu- 
ments, for  since  I  began  to  commit  my  public  history  to 
that  sort  of  record,  my  memory  has  absolved  itself  of  the 
cd^ligation  of  keeping  the  same  in  charge. 

In  August  following  my  settlement  in  Susquehanna 
county,  (1831,)  I  received  a  formal  letter  of  fellowship 
from  the  Chenango  Association  of  Universalists,  convened 
at  Upper  Lisle,  New  York.  A  letter  was  also  at  the  same 
time  received  by  Jason  Lewis,  since  favorably  known  as  a 
writer  in  our  periodicals.  The  Brooklyn  Society  had  so- 
licited for  me  the  right  of  ordination,  but  that  was  not 
granted,  as  the  Association  could  not  confer  it  consistently 
with  its  constitution,  which  required  that  the  applicant 
should  have  received  a  letter  at  a  previous  session  of  the 
body.     Still,  the  Brooklyn  Society  could  itself  have  con- 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  101 

ferred  it  at  any  subsequent  period,  but  I  cared  not  to  ad- 
vance by  forced  marches  into  the  confidence  and  offices 
o'f  the  denomination,  and  I  therefore  waited  until  the  As- 
sociation's next  session,  which  was  at  South  Bainbridge,  New 
York.  Charles  S.  Brown,  was  also  ordained  at  the  same 
time.  Job  Potter  preaching  the  sermon  on  the  occasion. 
Immediately  after  my  ordination,  I  made  a  journey  through 
Delaware,  Greene,  and  Duchess  counties.  New  York,  and  to 
Danbury,  in  Connecticut.  The  following  sketch  of  it  may 
not  be  unacceptable  to  the  reader. 

Taking  leave  of  George  Messenger  and  his  wife — 
whose  guest  I  had  been  during  the  meeting  —  I  passed 
up  the  Susquehanna  to  the  beautiful  village  of  Una- 
dilla,  where  Job  Potter  and  I  held  a  meeting  in  the 
evening,  and  lodged  for  the  night  with  Esquire  Benton, 
whose  house  occupied  a  shaded  area  by  itself  on  the  prin- 
cipal street.  Thence  I  proceeded  easterly  to  Franklin 
Village,  on  the  Catskill  turnpike,  where  I  preached  the 
first  Universalist  sermon  ever  delivered  in  that  part  of 
Delaware  county.  It  was  a  place  of  much  bigotry,  and  I 
was  violently  opposed  at  the  conclusion  by  a  clerical  stu- 
dent, who  was  so  far  qualified  for  his  profession,  at  least, 
that  he  could  recite  the  parable  of  the  rich  man  and  Laze- 
rus,  and  furthermore,  he  had  somehow  arrived  at  the  pro- 
found discovery  that  the  Devil  was  the  first  Luiver:-alist 
preacher!     Yet  from  even  such  hands  I  escaped  alive. 

I  thence  proceeded,  still  easterly,  to  Kortright,  and 
Harpersfield,  at  each  of  which  places  I  several  times 
preached.  The  sources  of  the  Delaware  river  lie  there- 
about. Next  I  passed  down  the  Delaware  to  Delhi,  the 
capital  of  the  county,  which  is  a  well  built  and  finely  sit- 
uated town.  The  male  inhabitants  were  mostly  at  a  militia 
training  a  few  miles  out.  I  went  thither,  and  looked 
amongst  them  for  a  countenance  that  might  please  me — 
faces  were  consulted  for  character  in  those  days,  not  heads. 
Having  selected  an  individual  to  my  liking,  I  introduced 
myself  to  him,  and  stated  the  purpose  of  my  visit  to  the 
parts.  He  proved  favorable  thereto,  and  taking  me  to 
where  General  R.  was  standing,  he  introduced  me  to 
that  personage,  and  solicited  his  interest  on  my  behal£ 
"  I  must  hear  him  answer  a  question  first,"  replied  that 
eccentric  old  gentleman,  and  turning  to  me  he  asked,  "If 
all  are  to  be  saved  at  last,  of  what  use  is  preaching?  An- 
swer me  quick,"  he  added,  "  and  without  premeditation." 


102         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

I  replied  in  a  manner  which  both  satisfied  and  amused  him, 
and,  as  his  influence  in  the  parts  was  unbounded,  he  pro- 
cured me  a  house  to  preach  in,  and  a  large  congrega* 
tion. 

My  next  move  was  to  Colchester,  over  the  rugged  and 
desolate  ridge  which  separates  the  east  and  west  branches 
of  the  Delaware.  Colchester  occupies  a  small  stony  delta, 
just  big  enough  to  afford  it  footing,  which  is  all  the  level 
ground  there  is  between  the  former  of  those  streams  and 
the  mountain.  A  ruder  region  is  scarcely  conceivable; 
the  inhabitants  depend  on  lumbering,  and  have  to  procure 
from  abroad  all  that  they  need  to  subsist  upon.  The  vil- 
lage is  shut  in  from  all  the  world  besides  by  lofty  and  un- 
inhabitable mountains  :  in  crossing  the  one  of  these  that 
separates  it  from  Hamden,  I  got  the  king-bolt  of  my  vehicle 
broken,  and  had  to  descend  a  rocky  and  precipitous  de- 
clivity for  some  two  or  three  miles,'  and  ford  the  west 
branch  of  the  river,  ere  I  could  reach  a  Smithshop  for 
repairs.  I  preached  on  the  great  salvation  at  Colchester 
in  the  Methodist  meeting  house,  and  when  I  had  ended, 
and  had  sung  a  hymn  to  the  same  cheering  effect,  a  lady 
broke  forth  with  a  song  about  the  awfulness  of  hell,  and 
the  comfort  which  she  and  a  few  others  took  in  the  pros- 
pect of  escaping  the  same  and  enjoying  the  bliss  of  heaven. 

At  Hamden  and  Walton,  in  the  same  region,  I  also  de- 
livered several  sermons.  A  little  Society  existed  at  the 
latter  place  of  sincere  and  simplehearted  believers,  to 
whom  the  visit  of  a  preacher  was  as  refreshing  as  rain  in 
a  season  of  draught.  Prominent  amongst  them  was  father 
Eels,  whose  face  was  a  familiar  one  at  all  our  associations 
that  met  within  a  hundred  miles  of  his  home.  He  is  a 
happier  worshiper  now  in  happier  assemblies. 

Keturning  to  Delhi  1  had  a  less  pleasant  meeting  than 
before.  I  then  discovered  that  the  principle  men  of  the 
town  were  sceptics,  of  the  Owen  school,  and  that  they  had 
mistaken  me  to  be  of  similar  sentiments.  And  what  won- 
der? They  had  repeatedly  heard  Universalists  so  repre- 
sented by  Orthodox  clergymen,  and,  being  ignorant  of  us, 
they  had  credited  the  representation.  When,  therefore, 
on  my  return,  I  alighted  at  the  hotel  where  I  lodged,  they 
swarmed  about  me  in  a  high  state  of  excitement — the  con- 
sequence of  some  mad  fanatical  proceedings  that  were  in 
operation  in  the  town  at  the  time — and  with  oaths  and  exe- 
crations requested  me  to  be  unsparing  in  my  invectives 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PEEACHER  103 

against  priestcraft  and  the  delusion  of  the  christian  reli- 
gion! Language  would  fail  me  for  expressing  the  mortifi- 
cation I  felt,  at  finding  myself  so  misunderstood.  It  was 
not,  however,  till  they  were  assembled  at  the  place  of  my 
meeting  that  I  undeceived  them,  and  I  then  did  so  explicit- 
ly and  pointedly,  in  terms  substantially  as  follows : 

"  Gentlemen,  you  are  convened  to  hear  a  Universalist 
sermon;  which  is  quite  another  thing,  I  would  have  you 
understand,  than  an  infidel  harrangue  against  religion  i 
Universalists,  gentlemen,  are  not  infidels — they  may  be 
no  better  than  infidels,  in  moral  character  and  per- 
sonal qualities,  but,  better  or  worse,  credit  me  gentlemen, 
they  really  are  christians  in  creed  and  in  feeling  :  Liberal 
christians,  we  term  ourselves,  in  contradiction  from  those 
who  receive  the  same  inspired  canon  of  faith  in  a  less 
liberal  construction.  And,  for  myself,  I  can  assure  you, 
gentlemen,  that  Christianity  in  its  worst  form  is  preferable 
to  infidelity  in  its  best. 

"  And  farther,  gentlemen,  if  you  would  act  with  effect 
against  the  religious  madness  of  the  time,  allow  me  to  as- 
sure you  that  your  measures  to  that  end  are  ill-chosen.  It 
is  not  by  cursing  fanaticism  over  your  cups  that  you  can 
put  it  down;  neither  can  it  be  done  by  abusing  and  deri- 
ding those  who  are  its  subjects.  No,  gentlemen,  to  the 
errors  of  men  we  must  oppose  reason;  their  extravagance 
we  must  conquer  with  moderation;  and  to  their  evil  prac- 
tices we  must  oppose  a  higher  example.  Our  better  prin- 
ciples, if  such  we  have,  must  commend  themselves  by 
their  better  influences  over  our  temper  and  deportment; 
and,  unless  we  can  furnish  something  better,  why,  doubt- 
less, it  were  as  well  to  leave  them  to  the  undisturbed  en- 
joyment of  their  delusion. 

"  Now  Universalists,  gentlemen,  are  persuaded  that  they 
can  furnish  something  better  than  the  errors  of  which  they 
would  disabuse  their  fellow  men;  it  is  their  fanaticism  that 
we  oppose,  not  their  religion-,  their  gloomy  and  soul  cor- 
roding fears,  not  their  confidence  in  God,  nor  their  hope 
of  heaven.  Oh !  for  world's  would  we  not  despoil  sorrow- 
ing man  of  that  soothing  faith,  which  is  his  soul's  starlight 
during  the  night  of  the  earthly  pilgrimage.  On  the  con- 
trary, our  peculiar  mission  is  to  strengthen  that  faith,  and 
to  widen  its  horizon  to  the  amplitude  which  is  warranted 
by  the  Creator's  love   and  his  word  of  promise,"  etc.,  etc. 

This  address  was  respectfully  received  by  the  audience. 


104  EXPERIENCE,    LABORS,    AND    TRAVELS 

Gen.  R.  received  it  standing,  and  acknowledged  its  ap- 
plicability to  himself  by  an  occasional  bow.  for  he  made 
no  secret  of  his  disbelief  of  Christianity.  That  same  Gen. 
R.,  nevertheless,  was  president  of  a  Bible  and  Prayer 
Book  society  that  existed  in  the  town,  so  usual  is  it  for 
public  men  to  connect  themselves  with  what  is  popular,  in 
disregard  of  right  principle.  And,  alas,  that  it  should  be 
so!  so  usual  is  it  also  for  popular  religions  to  court  such 
alliances.  "But,"  remonstrated  I  when  he  had  informed 
me  of  the  fact,  "  how  can  you  consent  to  belong  to  a  soci- 
ety with  whose  objects  you  cannot  sympathize?"  "  Hang 
the  sympathy!"  was  his  answer,  "  Fll  join  any  society  that 
will  make  me  its  president." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  describe  the  reckless  extravagance 
of  fanaticism  which  raged  through  all  that  region  at  that 
time.  A  class  of  strolling  preachers,  termed  revivalists, 
made  it  their  special  business  to  go  from  place  to  place — 
wherever  they  were  loell  paid  for  going — and  inflame  the 
religious  passions  of  the  people  to  an  almost  phrensicd 
height.  No  language  was  too  insolent  towards  men  for 
these  revivalists,  nor  too  blasphemous  towards  God  :  many 
of  her  prayers  and  denunciations  were  shocking  past  de- 
scription, and  past  belief  too,  I  should  fear,  except  to 
those  who  have  heard  the  like.  "  Stop !  stop !"  once  ex- 
claimed one  of  these  ranters,  as  an  elder  of  the  church 
was  addressing  the  Majesty  of  heaven  in  the  reverential 
strain  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed,  "Stop!  I  say, 
such  a  prayer  as  that  is  enough  to  freeze  hell  over — Mr. 
so-and-so,"  to  one  of  his  satelites,  who  accompanied  him  to 
do  the  journeywork  of  such  occasions,  ^^  you  pray,  and 
teach  these  people  how  to  make  the  Holy  Ghost  hear  them." 
This  was  a  Mr.  Burchard,  besides  whom  there  was  a  Fin- 
ney, a  Foote,  a  Littlejohn,  and  others.  The  last  named 
was  subsequently  convicted  of  having  been  all  the  while  a 
gross  hypocrite  and  libertine  :  it  was  proved  against  him 
that,  in  one  instance  while  conducting  a  protracted  meet- 
ing, he  feigned  illness,  and  made  attempts  on  the  virtue  of 
the  female  member  ol  the  church  who  was  engaged  to  nurse 
him.  She  exposed  him  to  the  ministers  and  elders  who 
were  present  at  the  meeting,  and  they  advised  the  conceal- 
ing of  the  affair,  lest  its  exposure  might  counteract  the 
work  of  the  Lord  that  was  then  in  progress!  All  this,  and 
more,  was  proved,  both  in  a  civil  and  in  an  ecclesiastical 
court;  and  there  is  extant  a  printed  report  of  the  same. 


OF   A    UKIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  105 

I  was  frequently  on  the  tracks  of  these  several  men, 
and  had  good  opportunity  of  becoming  acquainted  with 
their  respective  systems  of  operation.  I  found  that  they 
everywhere  said  the  same  things,  and  in  the  same  man- 
ner — -even  their  startling  and  blasphemous  sentences, 
which  seemed  the  ebullitions  of  momentary  impulse,  were, 
nevertheless,  stereotyped  for  the  occasion  and  everywhere 
repeated. 

The  Mr.  Foote  afore-mentioned,  had  a  tactic  peculiarly 
his  own;  wherever  he  went  for  the  purpose  of  getting  up 
a  revival,  he  w^ould  manage  to  fasten  a  gross  insult  of 
some  sort  on  some  individual  who  enjoyed  the  public  con- 
fidence in  an  eminent  degree.  This,  of  course,  would 
produce  a  sensation  through  the  community,  and,  as  ex- 
citement is  the  essential  aliment  of  revivalism,  he  was  sure 
of  thus  effecting  that  object  at  least.  At  Delhi,  Meredith'^ 
Franklin,  North  Bainbridge,  wherever  I  went  in  the  tracks'' 
of  this  man,  I  could  hear  of  his  having  played  that  pre- 
cise game,  and  I  hence  infer  that  it  was  a  settled  part  of 
his  tactics.  Well,  he  visited  and  commenced  a  protracted 
meeting  at  South  Bainbridge,  where  was  a  large  meeting 
house  owned  jointly  by  the  Presbyterians  and  Universalists. 
who  occupied  it  every  other  Sabbath  in  turns.  It  chancedi 
that  the  Sabbath  included  in  the  term  of  his  visit,  was  the 
Universalists  day  in  the  house;  moreover,  it  was  the  day 
appointed  to  be  observed  as  one  of  thanksgiving  by  the 
whole  Universalist  body,  and  the  pastor  at  South  Bain- 
hridge,  George  Messinger,  had  accordingly  given  out 
weeks  before  that  he  would  preach  a  sermon  appropriate 
to  the  occasion  on  that  day.  When,  therefore,  application 
was  made  to  him  for  a  surrender  of  the  house  in  favor  of 
Mr.  Foote,  and  a  suspension  of  his  own  services,  he  could 
not  comply  without  too  serious  an  inconvenience,  as  many 
of  his  congregation  would  be  in  from  miles  i^i  the  country. 
Nevertheless,  by  a  strain  of  courtesy,  he  consented  to- 
forego  his  own  services  till  one  o'clock,  P.  M.,  which  was 
quite  satisfactory  to  the  Presbyterians,  as  it  would  insure 
the  attendance  at  their  meeting  both  of  himself  and  hivs 
congregation. 

Well,  the  Sabbath  came,  clear,  balmy,  peaceful,  eloquent 
of  the  eternal  Father's  complacency  towards  his  mortal 
offspring,  and  bearing  to  man's  heart,  in  the  happy  song* 
of  birds  and  the  grateful  incense  of  flowers,  reproaches- 
for  its  distrustfulncss  of  that  Fatiher's  changeless  Iov€j.. 
8 


106        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

On  such  days,  methinks,  the  angels  come  down  and  breathe 
the  air  of  heaven  into  men's  souls.  From  all  quarters  the 
people  were  thronging  to  the  church;  those  who  on  ordi- 
nary occasions  parted  off  to  separate  sanctuaries  for  wor- 
ship, were  now  going  up  to  the  house  of  God  in  company. 
Among  the  rest  were  two  physicians,  one  a  Presbyterian, 
the  other  a  Uuniversalist;  these  were  remarking  with  high 
satisfaction  on  the  moral  beauty  of  the  picture,  and  ex- 
pressing wishes  that  it  could  always  be  thus.  But  here  a 
stern  voice  broke  in  from  behind  them,  "  Who  talks  thus 
of  agreement  with  infidels?"  it  demanded.  "Who  wants 
any  agreement  with  them?"  "Mr.  Foote,"  said  the  Pres- 
byterian physician,  allow  me  to  introduce  you  to  my  re- 
spectable friend  Doctor  Benton."  "Doctor  Benton  1"  ex- 
claimed the  fanatic,  recoiling  a  step  or  two,  "Why,  he  is 
a  Universalist  1"  Then  advancing,  and  pointing  his  clench- 
ed hand  towards  his  face,  he  exclaimed  with  angry  em- 
phasis, "  Doctor  Benton,  your  character  is  as  Mack  as  hell .'" 
Now  the  man  to  whom  this  was  said,  was  a  resident  of 
long  standing  in  those  parts,  and  had  been  known  from  his 
boyhood  by  the  Presbyterian  physician  who  had  given  him 
the  introduction.  Moreover,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say, 
that  a  more  amiable  citizen,  and  one  more  forward  in  every 
good  enterprise,  did  not  exist  in  that  community.  And 
that  such  was  his  reputation  was  well  known  to  Mr.  Foote; 
indeed,  it  was  doubtless  for  that  reason  that  he  had  select- 
ed him  as  the  object  of  his  gross  assault.  In  addition  to 
that  outrage,  he  occupied  the  meeting-house  beyond  the 
time  for  which  it  was  granted  to  him,  and  employed  the 
larger  part  of  his  sermon  in  invectives  against  the  people 
by  whose  courtesy  he  had  been  allowed  to  occupy  it. 
Then,  as  if  he  feared  he  had  not  yet  filled  the  measure  of 
his  vileness,  he  impudently  announced  that  he  should  oc- 
cupy the  house  after  a  given  limited  time,  and  he  enjoined 
the  "  people  of  God "  to  assemble  elsewhere  to  pray 
meanwhile  1  So  much  for  a  sample  of  the  revivalists  of 
that  day,  from  which  the  reader  will  perceive  that  protest- 
antism may  assume  forms  of  oppressiveness  and  demorali- 
zation, in  respect  to  a  community  amongst  which  it  exists, 
quite  equal  to  what  Catholicism  can  in  this  country  be  ever 
expected  to  exhibit. 

At  that  same  period — and  what  marvel  ? — Atheism  was 
fearfully  prevalent  all  over  the  country.  I  feared  that  it 
might  obtain  the  ascendancy  that  it  did  in  France  during 


OF    A    UNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  107 

'the  period  of  the  revolution.  The  cause  thereof,  in  both 
instances,  was  identical  in  principle,  for  protestant  priest- 
craft is  as  really  and  as  odiously  such  as  is  the  priestcraft 
of  the  papacy.  It  seldom  happens,  I  think,  that  men  op- 
pose religion  from  an  innate  antipathy  thereto;  it  much 
oftener  is  the  case  that  they  reject  it  because  of  the  cor- 
ruptions with  which  it  has  been  mixed  up,  and  the  oppres- 
sions that  have  been  practiced  under  its  alleged  sanction, 
I  seriously  feared,  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  writing,  that 
a  very  general  rejection  of  Christianity  would  ensue;  and 
oh !  what  misfortune  to  a  country  has  patriotism  more  rea- 
son to  deprecate?  Thank  God!  that  season  of  madness  in 
religion,  and  of  Atheism  resulting  therefrom,  has  measura- 
bly passed  away,  and  Christianity  is  regaining  the  high 
place  in  the  public  mind  and  heart  to  which,  by  its  intrin- 
sic exc.dlence,  it  is  well  entitled. 

And  if  I  should  claim  for  Universalism,  under  God,  the 
merit  of  having  largely  contributed  to  this  result,  shall  I 
incur  the  suspicion  of  sectarian  partiality  thereby?  How- 
ever that  may  be,  I  do  deliberately,  conscientiously,  and 
from  positive  knowledge  so  claim.  If  other  proof  of  the 
fact  were  wanting,  this  would  suffice,  namely,  that  in  any 
community  of  which  Universalists  compose  a  considerable 
portion,  you  shall  invariably  find  fewer  infidels  than  where 
orthodox  forms  of  religion  have  exclusive  sway.  Another 
proof  is,  that  very  many  who  are  now  Universalists,  and 
who  are  sincere  believers  in  Christianity,  were  formerly 
infidels,  and  made  such  by  the  absurdities  of  the  popular 
religion.  Few  things  have  so  cheered  and  strengthened 
my  heart,  as — having  preached  a  course  of  sermons  in  a 
place  where  our  doctrine  was  new — my  hand  has  been 
warmly  grasped  by  one  and  another,  who  have  said,  "  Sir, 
as  you  preach  Christianity,  I  can  both  believe  in  it  and 
love  it;  it  is  worthy  of  the  Divine  Being  from  whom  it 
professes  to  emanate;  there  is  nothing  repugnant  to  hu- 
man reason  therein,  nor  shocking  to  the  natural  sensibili- 
ties. Thank  God!  sir,  that  your  feet  have  been  directed 
to  this  place;  you  have  been  instrumental  in  delivering  me 
from  a  condition  of  cheerless  scepticism,  and  of  furnish- 
ing my  hopes  with  solid  anchor-ground."  That  I  have 
often  in  the  course  of  my  ministry,  very  often,  been  ad- 
dressed to  this  effect,  God  is  witness. 

But  I  have  been  betrayed  into  a  long  digression — let  us 
return  to  the  account  of  my  journey.     Resuming  my  route 


(08  EXPERIENCE,    LABORS,   AND   TRAVEL& 

in  an  easterly  direction,  I  again  preached  at  Harpersfieki 
on  the  evening  of  the  11th,  and  at  Oakhill  village,  Dur- 
ham, on  the  evening  of  the  12th,  The  notice  at  the  latter 
place  was  not  given  out  till  after  sunset,  yet  the  gathering 
was  tolerable.  I  found  a  friend  there  in  S.  S.  Allen.  I 
drove  next  day  about  fifty  miles  to  meet  an  appointment  at 
Pineplain  village,  Dechess  county,  where  I  became  ac- 
quainted with  Dr.  Allerton,  a  conscientious  believer,  with 
whose  conversation  I  was  much  edified.  "  The  word  of 
God,"  said  he,  "  is  the  foundation  of  my  hopes.  I  dont 
allow  myself  to  hope  beyond  its  authority.  I  have  exam- 
ined with  care  the  sceptical  writings,  but  they  only  lead 
to  darkness.  When  I  want  light  from  eternity,  I  go  to  the 
Scriptures  for  it,  and  they  satisfy — more  than  satisfy  me, 
I  believe,"  continued  he,  "  that  God  will  surely  punish  sin, 
and  I  also  believe  that  he  will  in  due  time  '  make  an  end 
of  sin,'  for  both  these  truths  the  Scriptures  teach,  and  1 
believe  them;  and,  sir,  if  sceptics  are  disposed  to  call  my 
faith  credulity,  they  are  at  liberty,  but  I  am  satisfied.'^ 
Amen,  so  am  I. 

i  love  to  name  such  Universalists-  as  I  fell  in  with  in  the- 
eoiirse  of  my  travels,  who  dared  to  avow  their  much  de- 
spised and  calumniated  faith,  unawed  by  the  prospect  of 
persecution  which  such  an  avowal  involved.  More  espe- 
cially as  there  are  so  many  tiny-spirited:  creatures  who 
pass  for  Universalists,  when  no  pressing  emergency/  requires 
them  to  ACT  in  that  character;  but  so  soon  as  circomstances- 
arise  which  call  for  a  display  of  their  manhood,  you  will 
find  that  they  never  happened  to  have  such  an  article,  its- 
use  not  being  required  in  the  ordinary  line  of  their  pur- 
suits. 

On  the  night  of  the  14th,  I  put  up  with  George  Perry,  a 
(Jniversalist  of  the  true  stamp,  who  kept  the  Stone  Church 
Hotel,  at  Dover  Plains,  Duchess  county.  The  next  morn- 
ing I  took  a  walk,  in  company  with  a  gentleman  of  the- 
sceptic  school,  to  see  the  natural  curiosity  from  which  the 
hotel  takes  its  name.  It  is  situated  in  the  east  side  of  the 
Dover  mountain,  which  here  forms  the  western  boundary 
of  the  level  and  beautiful  tract  of  country  called  Dover 
Plains. 

The  church  itself — ^I  describe  it  from  my  present  im- 
perfect recollection,  having  taken  no  notes  on  the  spot — - 
consists  of  a  semi-circular  area,  formed  by  a  slight  curve 
in  the  side  of  the  mountain^     In  the  middle  of  this  curv^ 


OF  A  imiVERSALIST  PREACHER,  109 

ts  an  aperture,  with  a  perpendicular  entrance,  from  which 
issues  a  brawling  rivulet  Immediately  over  this  opening 
(which  is  triangular  in  form,  with  the  base  resting  on  the 
earth)  lies  a  large  loose  fragment  of  rock,  which,  from  its 
form  and  situation,  is  called  "  the  pulpit," 

As  you  penetrate  the  aperture  by  a  pretty  steep  ac- 
clivity, you  find  the  course  of  the  stream  to  be  winding 
and  very  rugged.  The  noise  it  produces  is  increased  to  a 
stunning  degree  by  the  reverberations  of  the  sound  against 
the  rocky  sides  and  roof  of  the  passage;  for,  although  the 
mountain  is  cleft  through  to  the  top,  yet  the  chasm  both 
horizontally  and  vertically,  being  in  a  zigzag  direction, 
your  head  is,  for  a  part  of  the  way,  completely  roofed 
over. 

Proceeding  on,  you  find  the  passage  narrower  and  more 
rugged,  till  you  have  attained  a  stand  on  a  large  rock,  on 
both  sides  of  which  the  apparently  terrified  stream  seeks 
a  path  of  escape  from  its  gloomy  prison.  Here  the  scene 
suddenly  changes.  You  are  not  prepared  for  a  spectacle 
so  beautiful  as  now  presents  itself.  Look  up  the  avenue; 
before  you  is  a  perpendicular  ledge  of  about  forty  feet  in 
height,  off  which  the  streamlet  leaps,  in  a  beautiful  and 
unbroken  cascade,  into  a  pure  and  transparent  basin  be- 
low. The  effect  is  overpowering  to  a  mind  in  love  with 
the  works  of  Nature. 

My  sceptical  companion  had  no  leisure  to  admire  the 
scene.  His  mind  was  occupied  with  collecting  ideal  proofs 
to  favor  his  comfortless  philosophy.  "  See  those  rocks,'^ 
said  he,  *'  they  bear  the  appearance  of  having  been  worn 
away  by  the  stream.  How  many  thousands  of  ages  must 
have  transpired  during  this  process!"  Therefore  the  Mo- 
saic account  of  the  creation  is  untrue.  This  is  the  con- 
clusion to  which  he  wished  to  arrive.  Alas!  I  was  too 
blind  to  perceive  the  correctness  of  the  premises! 

On  the  whole,  this  curiosity  is  well  worth  a  visit,  and 
will  amply  repay  the  curious  who  have  the  means  and 
leisure  for  the  journey  of  a  few  hundred  miles;  and 
should  any  of  my  readers  be  induced  to  do  homage  to 
Nature  in  this  sanctuary  of  the  sublime  and  the  beautiful, 
they  will  find  that,  concerning  it,  "  the  half  has  not  been 
told  them." 

I  reached  Danbury,  in  Connecticut,  that  evening,  where 
on  the  morrow,  Sunday  the  13th,  I  preached  three  ser- 
mons.    The    brethren    there  were    few,  but   they    were 


HO  EXPERIENCE,   LABORS,   AND    TRAVELS 

achieving  wonders  by  dint  of  zeal  and  perseverance.  A 
splendid  temple  was  being  raised  to  an  impartial  God. 

On  the  7th  I  went  to  North  Salem,  New  York,  to  wit- 
ness the  dedication  of  a  new  Universalist  meeting-house- 
Thomas  J.  Sawyer,  of  New  York  city,  preached  the  dedi- 
catory sermon;  and  T.  F.  Whitcomb,  then  of  Schenectady, 
preached  in  the  afternoon.  The  services  were  crowdedly 
attended.  I  delivered  a  discourse  in  the  evening.  1  here 
became  acquainted  with  Father  Glover,  the  eldest  living 
minister  in  our  connexion.  He  was  held  in  high  and  very 
general  respect. 

I  preached  in  Saugatuck,  in  Bethel,  and  again  at  Dan- 
bury,  three  sermons,  on  Sunday  the  23d.  From  thence  I 
returned  to  Dover  Plains,  where  I  preached,  and  also  at 
Amenia.  The  congregations  at  all  those  meetings  were 
quite  large,  notwithstanding  that  there  was  no  moon,  and 
many  who  attended,  came  a  distance  of  several  miles. 

I  was  deeply  affected  by  the  account  which  a  respectable 
lady  in  Amenia  gave  me,  concerning  the  death  of  her 
only  daughter,  which  took  place  some  four  or  five  hun- 
dred miles  from  the  home  of  her  parents.  She  died  strong 
in  the  faith  of  a  world's  salvation.  She  had  cherished 
that  faith  in  her  far-off  sojourning;  among  strangers, 
whose  lot  it  had  not  been  to  "  hear  the  joyful  sound.^ 
And  her  light  had  brightly  shone  amid  the  night  of  par- 
tialism  which  gloomed  around  her.  "  Many  a  time  has 
she  soothed  me  with  the  voice  of  comfort" — thus  ran  the 
letter  which  the  mother  received  from  a  female  friend  of 
her  daughter's,  after  her  decease,  and  which  the  miOther 
read  me — "  while  I  passed  through  the  fires  of  persecution, 
which,  after  renouncing  their  cruel  faith,  I  experienced 
from  the  believers  in  a  partial  God.  Hers'  was  then  an 
angel's  influence  to  calm  my  troubled  heart,  and  I  shall 
bear  with  me  to  my  grave,  the  remembrance  of  her  kind 
and  endearing  attentions."  Another  letter  from  a  gentle- 
man who  had  made  her  house  his  home  for  more  than  a 
year,  also  bore  honorable  testimony  to  the  steadiness  of 
the  light  of  her  faith,  in  life  and  death.  "The  last  time 
I  saw  her,"  he  writes,  "  she  was  on  the  borders  of  eternity. 
She  reached  forth  her  hand  to  bid  me  a  last  adieu.  *  I 
shall  soon  be,'  she  said,  '  where  the  wicked  cease  from 
troubling,  and  the  weary  are  at  rest.  If  I  could  but  see 
my  dear  mother  before  1  die,  I  should  be  resigned.'  Your 
lovely  daughter  is  now  beneath  the  clods  of  the  valley — 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  Ill 

she  sleeps  in  the  dust;"  so  ran  the  letter,  and  the  mother's 
Toice  grew  tremulous  as  she  proceeded;  "but,  it  must  be 
a  consolation  to  you  to  know  that  she  was  willing  to  depart 
and  be  with  Christ;  and  that  she  was  enabled  to  triumph 
in  the  God  of  her  salvation/'  The  mother  showed  me  a 
painted  miniature  likeness  of  her  daughter,  which  repre- 
sented her  as  a  lovely  woman,  with  a  most  benevolent 
countenance.  "I  was  asked,"  said  she,  "  by  a  Methodist 
minister,  whether  my  daughter  was  a  professor.  Not  much 
of  that,  said  I,  but  she  was  a  possessor^  "  There  certainly 
is  a  distinction,"  he  replied. 

From  Amenia  i  proceeded  on  to  Kingston,  Ulster  county, 
I  called  on  James  M'lnty,  at  Kingston  landing,  by  whom  I 
was  hospitably  entertained.  I  preached  in  the  dining  hall 
of  his  hotel  on  Sunday  30th,  in  the  forenoon,  and  in  the 
Court  House  at  Kingston,  in  tho  evening.  Kingston  land- 
ing, or  Bolton,  is  situated  on  the  North  river,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Roundout  creek,  two  miles  below  the  junction  of 
the  Delaware  and  Hudson  canal  :  it  is  a  very  busy  and  in- 
teresting place.  In  Kingston  village  I  found  a  zealous 
and  liberal  friend  of  the  cause  in  the  widow  RatclifT. 

The  next  day  I  arrived  at  Cairo,  in  Greene  county, 
where  I  preached  on  the  evening  of  October  2d.  Our 
cause  had  there  a  very  respectable  beginning.  In  driving 
thence  the  next  day  for  Brooklyn,  my  horse  sprained  his 
shoulvder,  and  was  consequently  unable  to  proceed.  This 
circumstance  delayed  my  return  by  a  week.  I  tarried  in 
Harpersfield  three  days,  and  delivered  three  lectures  there 
on  Sunday  the  7th. 

The  lameness  of  my  horse  proved  to  be  no  very  serious 
matter,  so  that,  proceeding  by  short  stages,  I  was  enabled 
to  reach  home  by  the  following  Sunday.  My  heart  glad- 
dened at  what  I  had  witnessed  of  the  increasing  prosperi- 
ty of  the  cause  of  truth. 

I  was  concerned  in  an  incident  and  conversation  about 
this  time,  an  account  whereof  may  be  interesting,  as 
throwing  some  light  on  the  question  of  the  practical  influ- 
ences of  my  faith,  as  contrasted  with  that  of  endless  mis- 
ery. I  was  journeying  toward  the  m.outh  of  Tunkhan- 
flock  creek,  which  is  the  most  considerable  stream  in  Sus- 
quehanna county;  being  overtaken  by  night,  I  obtained 
accommodations  for  myself  at  a  farm-house  on  the  road. 
The  family  and  myself  were  entire  strangers  to  each  other. 
With  the  man  of  the  house,  Esquire  M.,  I  was  soon  en- 


112         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

gaged  in  a  free  conversation  on  various  topics,  which  last- 
ed till  bed  time;  but  nothing  transpired  to  elicit  a  discovery 
of  my  religious  sentiments.  Previous  to  my  departure  in 
the  morning,  however,  I  perceived  that  my  host  had  a  cu- 
riosity on  that  head,  and  without  waiting  for  him  to  over- 
come his  delicacy  so  far  as  to  question  me  thereupon — 
which  in  a  yankee  usually  requires  no  great  while — I  in- 
formed him  that  I  was  the  pastor  of  the  Universalist  socie- 
ties of  Brooklyn  and  Harford.  I  perceived  at  once  that 
he  was  pained  at  the  announcement;  a  shade  of  pity  pass- 
ed over  his  countenance  as  he  said,  in  a  dejected  tone,  '*  I 
am  sorry  to  hear  that,  my  young  friend.  1  had  conceived 
an  unusual  liking  for  you,  and  was  led  from  your  con- 
versation to  believe  you  a  christian.  And  so,  you  are 
really  a  Universalist  preacher!  So  young  too!  I  well 
knew  your  predecessor,  Mr.  Marsh,  he  also  was  very 
young,  and  of  a  most  lovely  character.  Dear  me!  how 
does  it  happen  that  Satan  succeeds  in  enlisting  in  his  ser- 
vice so  many  persons,  who  by  their  amiable  personal  qual- 
ities are  so  well  fitted  to  captivate  and  deceive!" 

"  Is  it  not  possible,  sir,"  I  asked,  "  that  those  amiable 
persons  are  in  the  employ  of  a  diiferent  master?" 

"  I  would  willingly  admit  this  to  be  possible,"  he  re- 
plied, "  if  I  could  stretch  my  charity  so  far,  but  I  cannot. 
(Jniversalists,  whatever  else  they  may  be,  are  not  men  of 
prayer.  This,  young  man,  you  must  allow,  Universalist* 
are  not  a  praying  people. '''' 

"But  the  Pharisees  were,  sir;  yet  it  did  not  prevent 
their  being  hypocrites  and  persecutors.  Much,  however, 
depends  on  the  sense  you  attach  to  the  phrase,  praying 
people,  whether  we  are  to  be  considered  such  or  not.  But 
let  that  pass.  We  will,  if  you  please,  institute  a  compari'- 
son  between  those  who,  in  your  sense  of  the  title,  are 
praying  people,  and  those  who  are  not  so,  with  regard  to 
their  respective  characters,  moral  and  social.  For,  you 
must  allow,  sir,  that  if  prayer  is  of  no  advantage  in  im- 
proving the  character  of  a  people,  they  may  as  well  dis^ 
pense  with  it." 

He  assented  to  this,  and  we  proceeded  to  the  investiga- 
tion. We  confined  ourselves  to  the  parts  with  which  we 
both  were  acquainted,  beginning  at  the  embouchure  of  the 
ci-eek  on  which  he  lived. 

"  That  spot  by  nature,"  said  I,  "  is  a  most  delightful 
one ;  the  stranger  as  he  passes  over  it  is  apt  to  think  it 


OF   A   UNIVERSALIST   PREACHEE.  113 

must  needs  be  a  desirable  place  of  abode,  and  he  is  tempt- 
ed to  envy  its  inhabitants  who,  being  surrounded  by  so 
much  that  invites  to  the  pursuit  of  peace  and  virtue,  must 
of  course  be  a  contented  and  happy  people.  But  tell  me, 
sir,  truly  and  unreservedly,  how  stands  the  fact?" 

"  Truly  and  unreservedly  then,"  he  answered,  "  I  must 
own  that  it  is  a  very  corrupt  community,  audit  is  also  true, 
nevertheless,  that  nearly  all  the  persons  composing  it  be- 
long to  one  or  another  of  the  different  churches  there." 

"  And,"  added  I,  "  are  what  you  term  praying  people,  of 
course.  Would  it  not  be  better,  if  they  could  be  termed 
an  amiahh  and  upright  people?"  * 

I  next  inquired  his  opinion  of  a  neighborhood  about  ten 
miles  up  the  same  creek,  the  prmcipal  members  of  which 
were  of,  or  at  least  favored,  the  Universal ist  faith.  He 
confessed  that  in  moral  respects,  and  for  the  virtues  of 
charity  and  hospitality,  he  could  not  wish  it  other  than 
what  it  was.  Only,  said  I,  facetiously,  you,  perhapa, 
would  wish  them  to  be  a  praying  people. 

His  own  neighborhood  came  next  in  turn;  as  a  magis- 
trate he  had  the  fairest  possible  opportunity  of  knowing 
intimately  the  characters  of  those  who  composed  it,  and 
they  were  nearly  all  of  them  praying  people — members  of 
one  church.  He  shook  his  head  sadly,  and  owned  the  ad- 
vantage there  to  be  altogether  on  my  side.  We  then,  and 
hastily,  compared  the  Presbyterians  and  Universalists  of 
Harford — where  I  then  lived — for  between  these  two  sects 
the  community  was  divided;  he  was  well  acquainted  with 
the  individuals  on  both  sides,  and  he  admitted  without  re- 
serve that,  however  estimable  those  of  the  former  sect 
might  be,  those  of  the  latter  were,  at  the  least,  quite 
equally  so. 

Well,  said  Esquire  M.,  after  we  had  got  through  the 
comparison,  this  is  surely  a  novel  mode  of  testing  the 
worth  of  people's  professions,  and  numerous  prayings!  I 
never  before  thought  of  weighing  them  in  such  a  balance. 
It  is,  however,  I  must  own,  a  very  just  and  satisfactory  one. 

It  is  strange  that  the  readers  of  the  Gospel  do  not  see, 
that  Jesus  was  not,  in  the  cant  sense  of  the  phrase,  a  pray- 

*  With  the  pre!^©nt  inhabitants  of  that  place,  the  above  has  noth- 
ing to  do;  fourteen  years  have  since  transpired,  during  which  great 
changes  for  good  may  have  taken  place :  it  is  to  be  hoped  so  at  least. 
About  that  time,  a  gang  of  counterfeiters  had  been  detected  there, 
iVjearly  all  of  whom  were  church  members. 


114        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

ing  man — although  he  undoubtedly  was  so  in  its  nobler 
sense — so  far  from  it,  indeed,  that  his  disciples  were  under 
the  necessity  of  asking  him  for  instruction  in  this  branch 
of  devotion,  which  would  not  have  been  the  case  had  they 
as  often  heard  him  exercised  therein  as  modern  teachers 
of  religion  usually  are.  But  the  most  virulent  and  un- 
principled persecutors  Jesus  had,  were  as  praying  a  people 
as  the  world  has  ever  contained.  The  priest  and  Levite 
passed  unheedingly  by  their  countryman,  who  lay  wounded 
and  bleeding  by  the  road-side :  yet  they  were  bending 
their  steps  toward  the  house  of  God  to  pray!  The  Savior 
has  thus  strikingly  shown  us,  how  little  influence  for  good 
people's  prayers  sometimes  have  upon  their  humane  feel- 
mgs.  Christ's  kingdom  is  composed  of  such  as  do  the  will 
of  his  Father  in  heaven,  and  not  of  such  as  say.  Lord  I 
Lord  ! 

At  Danbury,  some  overtures  had  been  made  me  toward 
a  settlement  as  pastor  of  the  society  there.  The  situation 
was,  in  many  respects,  preferable  to  the  one  I  occupied; 
my  labor  would  have  been  less  arduous,  and  my  salary 
greater.  Nevertheless,  when — after  we  had  visited  it  to- 
gether— I  came  to  talk  over  the  matter  of  removal  with 
my  wife,  our  conclusion  was  to  remain  where  we  were. 
Our  reason  was,  that  as  that  part  of  Connecticut  was  a 
far  more  attractive  region  than  Susquehanna  county,  and 
as  it  held  out  larger  inducements  to  a  preacher  than  the 
latter,  it  would,  in  all  probability,  be  much  sooner  sup- 
plied with  one,  than  would  the  latter  in  case  of  our  re- 
moval. We  reflected  that,  in  Susquehanna  county  were 
many  most  amiable  people,  whom,  for  their  mere  inability 
to  pay  as  liberally  and  the  ruggedness  of  their  country, 
it  would  be  a  pity  to  leave,  while  the  prospect  was  faint 
that  another  would  soon  be  got  to  supply  my  place. 

On  our  return  from  Danbury,  we  stopped  an  hour  or 
two  in  Poughkeepsie,  on  the  North  river,  where  my  wife 
made  some  purchases  toward  house-keeping,  as  she  judged 
she  could  do  so  more  advantageously  than  at  our  country 
stores  at  home.  We  had  purposed  reaching  Kingston  that 
night,  which  is  distant  about  twenty  miles  from  Poughkeep- 
sie, and  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river;  we  had  acquain- 
tances there,  with  whom  we  had  designed  to  lodge  for  the 
night,  and  from  thence  we  meant  to  proceed  to  Cairo^ 
where  I  had  an  appointment  to  preach  on  the  Sabbath. 
The  latter  town  is  distant  from  Poughkeepsie,  by  the  way 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PEEACHER-  116 

of  Kingston,  about  forty  miles — but  that  is  a  very  hilly 
and  rugged  route — by  the  way  of  Rhinebeck  and  Catskill 
it  is  ten  miles  farther,  but  the  route  is  both  more  level 
and  through  a  handsomer  country.  On  our  leaving  Pough- 
keepsie,  however,  we  found  it  too  late  to  admit  of  our 
reaching  Kingston  that  night,  and  short  of  there  we  knew 
of  no  place  where  we  could  tarry  for  the  night,  free  of 
charge;  we  therefore  abandoned  that  route,  and  took  the 
smoother  though  longer  one.  On  the  other  hand,  we  had 
no  acquaintances  at  all  on  the  latter  for  the  whole  fifty 
miles,  and  must  therefore  be  on  expense  all  the  way. 
Then  it  became  a  question  with  us,  how  could  we  meet 
that  expense  ?  We  had  just  one  dollar  left.  We  neither 
of  us  had  dined  that  day,  and  it  was  wearing  ton  ard  night 
The  keeping  of  our  horse  over  night  would  cost  the  full 
half  our  money.  Then  there  was  the  river  to  cross, 
which  would  cost  another  fourth,  and  we  should  have  but 
twenty-five  cents  left,  with  which  to  pay  for  our  own  sup- 
pers, lodging,  and  breakfast;  besides  that,  we  had  two  toll- 
gates  to  pass  through.  As  I,  in  my  various  rambles,  had 
become  pretty  well  practised  in  starvation,  I  threw  my 
own  supper  and  breakfast  out  of  the  calculation  to  see 
how  that  would  come  out.  Still,  there  remained  our  lodg- 
ing, my  wife's  supper  and  breakfast,  our  horse-keeping, 
an  additional  feeding  for  him  on  the  way;  our  ferriage, 
and  the  toll  through  two  gates;  all  out  of  one  dollar. 
Could  we  throw  ourselves  on  somebody's  charity  for  a 
night's  entertainment?  Hardly:  it  would  be  somewhat 
awkward  to  go  a  begging  in  a  carriage,  and  it  loaded  with 
valuables  1  Well,  what  then  could  we  do?  I  never  studied 
any  problem  more  seriously,  nor  with  fainter  prospect  of 
a  satisfactory  solution ;  in  fact,  I  could  make  nothing  of  it, 
and  I  know  not  what  would  have  been  the  issue,  had  not 
Providence  mercifully  stepped  in  and  solved  it  for  us,  just 
as  all  our  own  resources  failed.  We  had  passed  the  village 
of  Rhinebeck, — where  I  had  tried,  but  ineffectually,  to 
get  up  a  meeting — and  were  ascending  a  long  and  steep 
hill.  A  two-horse  wagon  was  close  behind  us.  I  had  just, 
in  a  feeling  of  despair,  thrown  myself  back  into  a  listless 
position,  and  muttered  to  my  wife  that  the  night  was  al- 
jeady  upon  us,  and  we  without  any  feasible  prospect  of  a 
lodging;  when  the  wagoner,  who  had  got  out  to  walk  up 
the  hill,  came  alongside  of  our  carriage  and  enquired, 
*^  How  far  do  you  mean  to  go  to  night?  if  it  is  a  fair  ques" 


116         ErPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

tion."  "  Perfectly  fair,  my  friend,"  I  replied,  "  but  not  easiiy 
answered,  and  for  the  reason  that  we  do  not  know  our- 
selves;  it  is  the  very  point  that  we  have  been  puzzling 
ourselves  to  find  out  for  these  several  hours  past."  I  then 
frankly  disclosed  to  him  our  real  situation,  and  he  inform- 
ed us  that  he  kept  a  house  of  entertainment  immediately 
on  our  road,  where  we  might  be  accommodated  for  the 
night  at  half  the  usual  tavern  charge.  We  most  gladly 
closed  with  his  offer;  and  besides  that,  our  quarters  proved 
to  be  very  agreeable.  We  were  thus  enabled  to  reach 
Cairo  with  what  funds  we  had,  though  it  brought  our  last 
penny  into  requisition. 

As  the  winter  had  overtaken  us  before  we  got  home,  it 
was  a  subject  of  anxious  inquiry  between  us  on  the  way, 
how  I  should  contrive  to  procure  suitable  clothing  for  my- 
self for  that  season.  The  winters  of  that  region  are  ter- 
ribly bleak,  and  I  had  to  be  much  out  in  them.  I  can 
truly  al ledge  that  my  income  at  that  time,  in  all  ways  in 
which  I  received  it,  did  not  amount  to  two  hundred  dollars 
per  annum ;  and  out  of  that  I  had  a  horse  to  maintain.  I  was 
already  somewhat  in  debt,  and  could  not  think  of  involving 
myself  more  deeply  by  procuring,  on  credit,  the  clothing  I 
needed.  We  therefore  were  right  sorely  perplexed  on  that 
head.  Our  way  home  lay  through  Montrose,  where  we  made 
a  night's  tarry  with  Alfred  Peck.  We  had  hardly  got  there, 
when  Mrs.  Peck  handed  me  a  parcel,  which  she  informed 
me  was  a  present  from  a  Mr.  Parker,  who  kept  a  woolen 
manufactory  at  the  mouth  of  Meshoppen  creek,  where  1 
had  several  times  preached.  The  parcel  supplied  the  very 
articles  that  had  been  the  subjects  of  our  anxiety  !  Are 
such  coincidences  brought  about  by  accident  ?  Or  are 
even  the  minutest  of  human  interests  under  the  constant 
supervision  of  an  ever-watchful  Eye? 

About  that  time,  I  made  my  first  visit  to  Sheshequin,  in 
Bradford  county,  where  was  a  Universalist  society,  in  pos- 
session of  a  good  meeting-house.  The  distance  from  home 
was  about  fifty  miles,  over  a  range  of  exceedingly  high 
hills,  terminating  with  the  mountain  which  forms  the  eastern 
boundary  of  the  vale  of  Sheshequin,  and  the  Susquehanna 
river.  It  was  my  lot  to  cross  that  mountain  after  night  fall, 
and  amid  a  heavy  thunder  storm;  which,  added  to  the 
mountain  forest,  shed  an  almost  inky  darkness  on  my  path. 
I  was  forced  to  dismount  and  lead  my  horse,  feeling  my 
way  with  my  feet,  save  as  flash  after  flash  revealed  it  to 


OF    A    TJNIVERSALIST   PEEACHERo  117 

the  eye  for  little  distances.  At  this  cautious  rate  I  was  till 
near  eleven  o'clock  in  reaching  a  friendly  house;  in  ano- 
ther moment — as  they  told  me — the  light,  whose  glimmer- 
ing at  the  window  alone  made  the  house  visible,  would 
have  been  extinguished.  Can  you  keep  a  Universalist 
preacher  here  to-night?  I  inquired.  O!  certainly,  respond- 
ed a  mild,  sweet  voice;  we  have  been  all  the  evening 
expecting  your  arrival.  In  a  year  or  so  after  that  I  united 
the  owner  of  that  sweet  welcoming  voice  to  a  neighboring 
young  man.  who  was  a  convert  to  the  truth  through  my 
ministry;  and  Julia  H.  Kinney — subsequently  Mrs.  Scott, 
who  became  eminent  amongst  us  as  a  poetess — stood  as  her 
bridesmaid.  They  were  born  and  had  lived  all  their  lives 
next  door  to  each  other,  and  loved  as  sisters. 

I  oft  extended  my  rides  to  Bradford  county  after  the 
visit  aforedescribed,  and  preached  at  Athens,  Ulster,  Smith- 
field,  Springfiold,  Troy,  Canton,  Standing  Stone,  Towanda, 
Orwell,  Monroeton,  Wyalusing,  etc.  There  are,  indeed, 
few  of  its  hills,  hollows,  and  vales — and  it  has  many  of 
all  these — over  which  I  may  not  at  some  time  have  been 
seen  wending  my  way.  1  shall  not  be  likely  to  forget  my 
first  visit  to  what  is  called  Old  Sheshequin.  It  is  situated 
over  against  the  southern  extremity  of  Sheshequin  proper. 
Ten  of  us  together  crossed  over  to  it  on  a  winter's  night, 
in  a  little  crazy  skiif,  which  sunk  under  her  live  load  to 
within  a  few  inches  of  the  top  of  her  gunwale.  She  leak- 
ed, moreover,  and  the  river  abounded  with  floating  ice, 
through  Islands  of  which  we  had  to  force  our  way,  which 
sM)  much  retarded  us  that  the  leakage  brought  the  water  in 
the  skiff  up  to  our  ancles;  our  ancles,  1  say,  I  mean  of 
those  who  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  on  their  feet,  but 
8ome  two  or  three  of  our  bulkiest  passengers  of  both  sexes, 
were  squatted  down  in  the  bottom,  and  so  remained  per 
force,  for  the  jam  was  so  great  as  to.  prevent  them  f  *om 
bettering  their  condition.  The  poetess  employed  herself 
in  a  new  style  of  bailing,  which  consisted  in  soaking  her 
pocket  handkerchief  in  the  water  of  the  leak  and  wringing 
it  out  over  the  side.  For  nr,  jelf  I  got  off  with  a  well 
soaked  pair  of  feet,  and  I  had  to  preach  with  them  in  that 
condition,  as  the  congregation  had  been  for  sometime  as- 
sembled when  we  got  over.  However,  it  has  seldom  been 
my  privilege  to  preach  to  as  good  purpose  as  I  did  on  that 
night  and  several  nights  succeeding;  the  result  was  that 
quite  a  revolution  was  effected  in  the  religious  character 


118        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

of  the  place,  much  to  the  surprise  as  well  as  delight  of  the 
people  of  Sheshequin. 

In  Athens  village  also,  my  labors  were  attended  with  the 
same  success.  Athens  lies  over  against  the  northern  limit 
of  the  Sheshequin,  and  is  more  commonly  called  Tioga 
Point,  from  its  occupying  an  angle  formed  by  the  junction 
of  the  Tioga  river  with  the  Susquehanna.  I  frequently 
preached  there,  but  it  was  during  a  twelve  days'  meeting 
of  the  Presbyterians  in  the  place,  that  I  did  so  with  best 
effect.  In  their  discourses  during  their  long  meeting  the 
Presbyterian  clergymen  did  not  stint  their  abuse  of  Uni- 
versalism,  nor  of  its  advocates;  had  a  tithe  of  the  evil 
been  said  of  themselves  by  others  they  would  have  termed 
it  persecution,  and  solaced  themselves  with  the  persuasion 
that  they  were  enduring  it  for  Christ's  sake.  It  is,  how- 
ever, no  uncommon  thing  for  injustice  to  defeat  its  own  ends. 

An  excellent  young  man  of  their  party  was,  by  those 
very  vituperations,  induced  to  attend  one  of  my  meet- 
ings; his  object  was,  as  he  afterwards  said,  to  witness 
for  himself  with  what  degree  of  effrontery  doctrines  so 
absurd  and  so  impious  would  be  presented.  When,  how- 
ever, he  noticed  the  decorum  of  our  worship;  the  fixed 
and  respectful  attention  of  the  audience;  the  reverence 
for  inspired  authority  exhibited  in  the  preaching,  and  the 
fullness  and  force  of  scripture  evidence  with  which  our 
doctrine  could  be  maintained;  the  scales  at  once  fell  from 
his  eyes,  and  he  frankly  avowed  himself  a  convert  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  discourse.  Nor  was  this  avowal  prema- 
ture, for  his  conversation  evinced  that  he  had  a  just  and 
clear  apprehension  of  the  subjects;  notwithstanding  that 
it  was  the  first  sermon  of  the  kind   he  had  ever  heard. 

Another  young  man,  an  Episcopalian,  became  a  convert 
to  the  faith  through  the  same  discourse.  As  to  the  Presby- 
terian convert,  he  was  not  long  in  finding,  to  his  cost,  that 
now,  as  in  Paul's  time,  they  who  "  trust  in  the  living  God 
as  the  Savior  of  all  men,"  must  "labor  and  suffer  re- 
proach." His  own  brother,  a  deacon  of  the  church  from 
whose  pale  he  had  withdrawn,  forbid  him  his  house  ex- 
cept he  would  forego  the  liberty  of  speech  on  the  subject 
of  his  new  faith.  That  same  brother,  by  the  way,  enjoyed, 
even  amongst  the  members  of  his  own  religious  commu- 
nion, far  more  credit  for  piety  than  for  honesty;  indeed, 
however  well  off  he  may  have  been  considered  with  re- 
gard to  the  former,  he  was  deemed  little  better  than  bank- 
rupt with  respect  to  the  latter. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIS!  PREACHER.  119 

What  is  now  the  village  of  Monroeton,  in  Bradford 
county,  was  then  the  seat  of  but  a  few  mean  and  widely 
scattered  houses.  It  now  contains  several  neat  churches, 
one  of  which  is  owned  by  the  Universalists.  In  those 
days  the  only  house  of  worship  in  the  place  was  a  school- 
room,  and  it  was  subject  to  the  use  of  all  denominations. 
I  was  badly  used  there,  at  several  different  times,  by  a 
couple  of  Methodist  preachers  ;  they  would  attend  upon 
my  preaching,  and,  after  I  was  gone,  would  make  a  show 
of  reviewing  and  refuting  it,  notwithstanding  that  I  re* 
spectfully  and  repeatedly  solicited  them  to  urge  their 
objections  to  my  sermons  at  the  close  of  the  same,  when  I 
was  present  to  answer  them.  But  reviewing  my  sermons 
in  my  absence  did  not  content  them,  they  also  abused  me 
personally,  calling  me  "  a  green-eyed  boy,"  in  allusion  to 
the  glasses  I  wore  for  the  weak  state  of  my  eyes.  Well, 
they  were  on  the  strong  side,  and  for  the  weak  there  was 
no  redress.  But  a  time  of  retribution  came  at  length — 
"  though  hand  join  in  hand,  the  wicked  shall  not  be  un- 
punished." More  than  a  year  had  elapsed,  and  I  again 
had  an  appointment  to  preach  at  Monroeton;  it  chanced 
that  those  same  two  preachers  held  a  meeting  there  in  the 
former  part  of  the  same  day.  When  they  were  through, 
my  friend,  Gordon  Mason,  announced  to  the  audience  that 
I  would  be  there  in  the  evening,  and  he  would  take  it  upon 
him  to  promise  that  my  discourse  should  be  on  the  sub- 
jects treated  of  by  those  who  had  just  addressed  them. 
A  large  congregation  attended.  I  began  by  taking  a  brief 
retrospective  view  of  the  relations  in  which  those  preach- 
ers and  I  stood  to  each  other;  expressed  my  satisfaction 
at  their  being  present,  as,  in  all  cases,  I  was  exceedingly 
averse  to  assailing  the  sentiments  of  persons  in  their  ab- 
scence.  I  begged  the  audience,  as  the  sermons  I  was  about 
to  review  were  fresh  in  their  minds,  to  listen  candidly  to 
what  I  should  submit  to  their  consideration,  and  to  weigh 
it  in  an  equitable  balance  with  the  opposing  views  which 
had  already  been  presented  on  the  same  subjects.  They 
did  listen,  with  an  almost  unbreathing  attention,  and  their 
verdict,  subsequently,  was — unanimous,  so  far  as  I  could 
gather — that,  however  true  or  false  Universalism  might  be 
in  the  general,  so  far  as  those  particular  points  were  con- 
cerned, its  truth  was  established  past  all  doubt.  Revisit- 
ing Monroeton  recently,  after  a  lapse  often  years,  I  found 
that  the  discourse  of  that  evening  was  still  fresh  in  the 


120         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

memories  of  many,  and  more  than  one  informed  me  that 
they  dated  their  conversion  to  the  truth  from  that  eve- 
ning's meeting. 

Most  christian  sects  seem  to  make  a  merit  of  having 
been  persecuted  at  some  time  or  other,  and  it  is  a  favorite 
measure  with  them  to  make  for  their  cause  an  interest  in 
the  public  sympathies  on  that  ground.  But  if  the  being 
persecuted  is  a  favorable  mark  as  to  the  christian  charac- 
ter of  a  church,  it  is  not  sufficient  that  it  should  have  suf- 
fered in  the  past,  but  that  it  should  continue  to  suffer, 
otherwise  there  will  be  ground  to  suspect  that  it  now  is  not 
truly  christian,  whatever  it  may  once  have  been.  This 
most  evident  conclusion  seems  to  be  wholly  lost  sight  of. 
Truth  is  that  the  weak,  in  every  cause,  will  be  likely  to 
suffer  when  they  come  into  competition  with  the  strong. 
Hence  all  parties — in  politics,  science,  or  religion,  are  apt 
to  experience  persecution  whilst  they  are  young  and 
feeble,  and,  alas!  to  become  persecutors  themselves  when 
they  have  acquired  the  due  degree  of  power. 

1  shall  not,  then,  be  understood  as  claiming  for  Univer- 
salism  any  peculiar  value  by  the  statement,  that  the  oppo- 
sition which  it  has  had  to  encounter  from  various  sources, 
has  fully  equalled — nay,  surpassed,  what  any  religious 
cause  in  modern  times  has  had  to  endure.  Let  us  com- 
pare it  with  Methodism,  for  example.  No  candid  person 
can  acquaint  himself  with  the  history  of  the  latter  without 
being  convinced  that  much  of  the  opposition  which  it  sus- 
tained was  provoked,  needlessly,  by  the  wild  rant  and  ex- 
travagance of  its  advocates;  their  meetings  often  proved  a 
serious  public  nuisance;  they  would  go  amongst  a  people  of 
whom  they  knew  nothing,  and,  in  no  gentle  terms,  charge 
them  with  being  totally  depraved,  and  denounce  even  the 
most  moral  amongst  them  to  endless  flames.  Hence  the 
angry  passions  of  the  multitude  were  often  excited  against 
them,  and  m.agistrates,  who  had  the  public  peace  in  keep- 
ing, felt  bound  to  deal  with  them  as  with  other  riotous 
persons.  The  Methodists,  however,  could  appeal  to  the 
prevalent  doctrinal  standards  to  prove  themselves  ortho- 
dox, and,  addressing  themselves  principally  to  the  passions, 
they  could  always  find  a  considerable  number  in  whom  a 
latent  fanaticism  could  be  easily  excited  into  active  exer- 
cise; b'';ice  thousands  became  attached  to  them  from  feel- 
ing, who  had  little  knowledge  of  their  distinctive  princi- 
ples. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  121 

In  all  this  their  advantage  over  us  was  manifest.  We 
had  the  reasoning  faculties  of  men  to  arouse  in  relation  to 
religion;  we  could  not  cite  the  received  standards  and  plat- 
forms of  faith  in  our  favor;  in  respect  to  them  we  frankly 
avowed  our  views  to  be  widely  and  irreconcilably  hetero- 
dox; we  had  naught  wherewith  to  bribe  the  self-esteem  of 
men  over  to  our  side,  for  we  could  not  promise  them  a 
monopoly  of  the  divine  favor,  nor  an  exclusive  freehold 
in  Paradise.  Hence  they  sneeringly  asked,  "  Wherein  are 
we  to  he  advantaged  by  embracing  your  religion?" — for 
men  had  been  taught  to  look  beyond  religion  for  the  gains 
thereof,  and  would  seem  to  have  had  no  idea  that  its  wealth 
lay  within  itself.  We  hau  to  make  head  against  the  almost 
universal  prejudices  of  Christendom;  their  almost  univer- 
sal misunderstanding,  and  consequent  misapplication,  of 
the  sacred  text;  their  innumerable  army  of  preachers, 
tract-dispensers,  Sunday-school  teachers,  and  priest-ridden 
spinsters  without  number.  Besides,  (as  was  the  case  with 
Jesus  and  his  Apostles,)  our  opposers  were  chia^y  praying 
people;  Rabbles,  and  rulers  of  synagogues,  who  in  acting 
against  us,  no  matter  in  what  spirit,  nor  by  what  means, 
thought  they  were  doing  God  service.  We  were  de- 
nounced from  all  the  pulpits  and  through  all  the  presses 
of  the  country;  tracts,  as  all-pervading  as  the  Egyptian 
plague  of  frogs,  croaked  against  us  in  every  nook  of  Chris- 
tendom; our  dying  beds,  even,  were  haunted  with  the  view 
of  extorting  recantations  from  our  weakness  or  our  fears; 
and  falsehood  often  reported  success  in  these  cases,  when 
the  fact  vras  totally  and  notoriously  otherwise. 

But  swearers,  as  well  as  men  of  prayer,  manifested  their 
aversion  to  our  fiiith.  1  have  myself,  while  preaching, 
been  informed  that  I  v/as  a  d — d  liar;  and  once  at  a  crowded 
meeting  in  Sussex  county.  New  Jersey,  as  I  was  present- 
ing our  views  in  contrast  with  those  of  Calvinism,  an  old 
gentleman  who  sat  beside  me  broke  out  with  the  exclama- 
tion, "By  G — d  I  wont  stand  that!"  and  seizing  a  candle 
from  the  stand,  which  he  had  probably  contributed  to  the 
meeting,  he  blew  it  out,  and  made  his  escape  from  the 
house,  muttering  anathemas  against  me  as  long  as  he 
could  be  heard.  In  the  same  county,  at  the  mouth  of  a 
creek  called  the  Wallkill,  I  once  went  to  preach  on  a  Sab- 
bath afternoon;  no Universalist  clergyman  had  ever  before 
visited  that  region.  During  my  sermon  1  was  subjected  to 
every  species  of  annoyance  by  the  rudeness  of  certain 
9 


122        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

members  of  the  congregation,  whose  design  was  to  put  me 
out,  and  thus  frustrate  the  object  of  my  visit;  but  I  pene- 
trated the  design,  and  did  not  allow  myself  to  be  diverted 
from  the  subject  of  the  discourse,  nor  even  to  appear  to  be 
conscious  of  what  was  going  on.  When,  however,  I  had 
got  through  preaching,  I  took  occasion  to  remark,  in  a 
mild  but  pointed  manner,  that  conduct  of  the  kind  which 
I  had  witnessed  during  my  discourse  was  calculated  to  im- 
press a  stranger  very  unfavorably  with  regard  to  the  morals 
and  intelligence  of  the  commiinity.  "  It  may  be,"  said  I, 
"that  you  are  more  accustom.ed  to  being  dictated  to,  than 
affectionately  reasoned  with,  on  religious  subjects;  to  be 
addressed  in  atone  of  authority,  rather  than  as  occupying, 
in  God's  esteem,  an  equal  place  with  the  preacher.  Have 
I  then,  in  your  case,  a  verification  of  what  some  of  our 
opponents  alledge  in  regard  to  our  doctrine,  namely,  that 
however  harmless  may  be  its  influences  on  minds  of  a  pure 
and  elevated  character,  it  is  wholly  unfitted  to  persons  of 
low  and  coarse  habits  of  thinking — to  the  ignorant  and 
brutish — who  need  the  scorpion  whip  of  hell's  terrors  to 
restrain  them  within  the  rules  of  common  decency'?  I 
should  be  sorry  to  think  that  any  of  our  race  were  so  far 
fallen  as  to  be  unable  to  appreciate  the  language  of  reason 
and  of  love,  and  to  be  only  open  to  the  harsher  influences 
of  menace  and  authoritative  command.  You  know,  my 
friends,  whether  such  is  your  condition;  your  conduct, 
viewed  without  charitable  allowance,  would  lead  me  to  con- 
clude that  it  is,  but  I  am  unwilling  to  harbor  such  a  con- 
clusion, and  will  give  you  proof  of  my  better  opinion  of 
you  by  appointing  to  address  you  again  this  evening, 
which  I  accordingly  do." 

The  effect  of  this  reproof  was,  that  they  felt  heartily 
ashamed  of  their  conduct,  and  several  of  the  more  active 
disturbers  of  the  meeting — members  of  a  christian  church, 
too! — came  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Bonnell,  with  whom  I  tar- 
ried, and  confessed  to  me,  that  at  their  meeting  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  with  the  sanction  of  the  person  who  led  the  services! 
— not  a  regular  clergyman — they  had  made  it  up  amongst 
themselves  to  attend  my  meeting  and  endeavor  by  all  means 
to  break  it  up.  Their  leader  told  them  that  there  would  be 
no  sin  in  doing  so,  but  rather  a  merit.  In  the  evening 
they  made  what  amends  they  could,  by  convening  early  at 
the  place  appointed  and  singing  until  my  arrival;  they  also 
listened  to  my  sermon  with  respectful  attention,  and  ex- 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  123 

pressed  much  satisfaction  at  the  benevolent  and  reasonable 
character  of  its  doctrines.  Encouraged  by  this  state  of 
things,  I  returned  in  a  fortnight  after  to  preach  again,  but 
their  clergyman  had  been  amongst  them  in  the  meantime, 
(a  Mr.  Allen,  Reformed  Dutch,)  who  represented  Univer- 
salists  as  worse  than  Atheists;  denying  God  and  the  devil, 
heaven  and  hell,  all  distinction  between  right  and  wrong, 
blasphemers  of  religion,  scoffers  at  prayer,  and  I  know 
not  what  all.  The  consequence  was  that  my  next  meeting 
was  marked  by  the  most  open  and  shameless  disturbance; 
men  of  Belial,  as  the  Psalmist  would  have  termed  them, 
broke  in  on  the  sermon  with  hisses,  and  whistling,  and 
most  obscene  and  profane  exclamations,  which  rendered  it 
impossible  for  me  to  proceed  to  a  conclusion,  insomuch 
that  Mr.  Bonnell  became  seriously  alarmed  for  my  per- 
sonal safety;  for, as  he  said,  the  intelligence  of  the  people 
was  so  low,  and  their  prejudices  so  violent,  that,  encour- 
aged by  the  bitter  invectives  of  Mr.  Allen  against  us,  they 
might  even  kill  me,  and  think  they  were  serving  God 
thereby.  Thus  in  our  time,  as  in  PauPs,  (see  Acts  xvii.) 
when  bigoted  men  have  need  of  tools  for  a  low  and  mean 
work  of  persecution,  which  they  are  ashamed  to  do  them- 
selves, they  are  not  above  employing  "  certain  lewd  fel- 
lows of  the  baser  sort." 

At  Branchville,  in  the  same  county,  I  found  a  more  en- 
lightened and  liberal  community,  to  whom  I  frequently 
preached,  in  a  meeting-house  which  was  subject  to  the  use 
of  all  religious  denominations.  It  was  built,  mainly,  at  the 
expense  of  John  Bell,  Esq.,  an  intelligent  and  influential 
citizen;  with  whom  I  was  in  the  habit  of  making  my  home 
during  my  visits.  So  considerable  an  interest  was  excited 
in  the  parts  relative  to  our  faith,  that,  assisted  by  George 
Messinger,  Samuel  Ash  ton,  and  James  McLauren,  I  held 
a  two  days'  meeting  in  Branchville,  which  was  numerously 
attended. 

On  the  following  Tuesday  evening,  George  Messinger 
and  I  held  a  meeting  in  Sandiston,  eight  miles  west  of 
Branchville;  the  congregation  was  very  numerous  and  at- 
tentive. George  Messinger  delivered  a  sermon,  to  which 
I  added  some  remarks.  When  I  had  ceased  speaking,  a 
woman  arose,  with  a  child  in  her  arms,  and  commenced  a 
violent  appeal  to  the  fears  of  the  audience  against  the  doc- 
trine we  had  advanced.  As  she  proceeded  she  became 
more  and  more  vehement,  rising  to  her  utmost,  and  bring- 


124         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

ing  down  her  fist  with  all  her  force  upon  the  table  beforer 
us.  Several  attempted  to  relieve  her  of  her  child,  from 
an  apprehension  that  she  would  injure  it  in  the  frantic  vio- 
lence of  her  proceedings,  but  she  refused  to  let  them  have 
it.  As  the  congregation  were  thrown  into  much  confusion 
by  this  circumstance,  George  Messinger  arose  and  dis- 
missed them,  bespeaking  at  the  same  time,  their  charitable 
consideration  on  the  unfortunate  woman's  behalf.  She, 
however,  continued  her  vociferation  for  as  long  as  she 
could  be  heard.  We  learned  that  she  belonged  to  the 
Presbyterian  church.  Oh,  fanaticism!  what  a  deformer 
of  the  loveliness  of  the  gentler  sex  art  thou!  Wild  and 
phrensied  denunciation  is  odious  on  man's  part^ — how  un- 
speakably more  so  on  womari's! 

At  the  distance  of  two  or  three  miles  from  the  scene  of 
this  incident,  is  a  meeting-house,  under  the  control  of  the 
Methodists,  but  built  at  the  expense  of  the  inhabitants  gen- 
erally, with  the  express  understanding  that  it  should  be 
subject  to  the  use  of  all  religious  denominations  when  not 
specially  enifaged  by  the  Methodists.  Having  one  night 
an  appointi'ient  to  preach  there,  I  went  to  fuifil  the  same^ 
accompanied  by  Esquire  Latham,  who  had  given  the  site, 
and  one  hundred  dollars,  on  the  condition  aforenamed.  On 
our  arrival  we  found  a  large  collection  of  people,  and  in  a 
high  degree  of  excitement:  from  them  we  learned  that  the 
door  of  the  house  was  locked,  and  that  two  Methodist  men 
were  within,  who  had  kindled  a  fire,  and  provided  them- 
selves with  bedding,  for  the  purpose  of  spending  the  nighl 
there.  These  men  were  known  not  to  have  contributed 
one  dollar  to  the  erection  of  the  edifice;  they  were, more- 
over, peculiarly  obnoxious  individuals  on  the  ground  of 
their  personal  and  moral  qualities,  and  now  they  were 
cruelly  defrauding  one  hundred  people  of  their  privilege 
of  occupying  the  house  agreeably  to  previous  stipulation; 
some  of  these  were  women  with  children  —  many  had 
come  a  distance  of  several  miles;  and  the  majority  of  the 
men  had  contributed  toward  the  house,  some  ten,  some 
twenty,  some  fifiy  dollars.  Is  it  to  be  wondered  at  that  the 
people  were  incensed  to  such  a  degree  that  they  proposed 
breaking  down  the  door  and  taking  forcible  possession  of 
the  house  1  That  they  had  a  moral  right  to  do  so  I  could 
not  doubt;  but  all  things  which  are  lawful  are  not  expe- 
dient: when  the  violence  of  a  crowd  begins,  there  is  no 
foi-eseeing  its  end.     I  feared,  moreover,  that  the  individu- 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  126 

als  within  would  be  personally  maltreated;  I  therefore  took 
a  stand  on  the  door-step,  and  addressed  the  congregation 
in  a  strain  dissuasive  of  violent  measures.  Knowing  that 
the  most  effectual  method  of  allaying  the  angry  passions 
of  a  people,  is  to  excite  their  mirthfulness,  I  humorously 
reminded  them  that  the  Methodists  were  acting  in  perfect 
agreement  with  their  creed  in  the  matter  of  denying  to 
heretics  the  occupancy  of  their  church.  "  They  fancy," 
said  I,  "  that  God  will  exclude  us  from  heaven ;  and  we 
are  therefore  wrong  in  expecting  them  to  be  more  liberal 
of  their  church  than  God  will  be  of  Paradise.  Moreover, 
if  this  dog-in-the-manger  spirit,  and  this  shameless  viola- 
tion of  good  faith,  is  the  legitimate  fruit  o?  their  principles, 
let  us  show  that  moderation,  and  a  patient  endurance  of 
wrong,  is  the  fruit  of  ours.  The  best  way  to  rebuke  un- 
worthy actions  in  others,  is  to  act  well  ourselves." 

My  God  !  can  I  be  adequately  thankful  for  the  almost 
constant  inflowing  of  happiness  which  my  own  soul  has 
experienced,  while,  amid  wrongs  and  reproaches,  and  evil 
reports,  and  hunger,  and  weariness,  and  poverty,  I  have 
endeavored  to  make  the  light  of  gospel  promise  to  shine  on 
the  cheerless  souls  of  others?  "Poor,  but  making  many 
rich,"  is  an  expression  from  Paul,  the  force  of  which  I 
have  often,  and  I  hope  from  no  vain  over-estimate  of  my 
weak  instrumentality,  most  consolingly  experienced.  And 
every  true  gospel  minister,  methinks,  when  he  considers 
the  value  of  those  divine  consolations  which  it  is  his  office 
to  communicate,  in  comparison  with  the  worldly  emolu- 
ments which  his  talents  otherwise  employed  might  secure 
to  him,  must  acquiesce  in  the  sentiment  of  his  divine  Mas- 
ter, that  "  it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive."  It 
should  reconcile  him,  too,  to  the  self-sacrihces  incident  to 
his  vocation,  to  consider  that  his  Lord  "  came  not  to  be 
ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,"  and  "it  is  sufficient  to 
the  servant  that  he  be  as  his  master,  and  the  disciple  as  his 
Lord."  What  lessons  against  priestly  selfishness  do  the 
examples,  as  well  as  precepts,  of  Christ  and  his  apostles 
furnish? 

Samuel  Ashton,  who  then  had  just  entered  the  ministry, 
came  to  me  at  the  Branchville  Conference  meeting  with  a 
letter  from  A.  C.  Thomas,  from  whose  society  in  Philadel- 
phia he  had  emanated.  He  was  for  a  considerable  time 
subsequent  a  member  of  my  family,  as  was  also  the  lady 
who  afterwards  became  his  wife.     It  was  for  the  special 


126        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

purpose  of  preparing  a  field  of  labor  for  him  that  1  per- 
formed several  of  my  journeys  in  the  region  about  Brad- 
ford and  Tioga  counties,  Pennsylvania,  and  in  portions  of 
New  York  adjacent.  He  devoted  some  two  years  to  labors 
in  that  field,  and  contributed  a  valuable  portion  to  the  in- 
fluences whereby  the  cause  of  truth  attained  its  ascendency 
in  those  parts.  My  reminisences  with  respect  to  Samuel, 
are  pleasing;  we  had  many  pleasant  times  together,  the 
remembrance  of  which  is  like  a  streak  of  sunshine  through 
the  sullen  monotony  of  my  otherwise  lonely  toils  and 
journey  ings. 

There  are  places  along  the  Susquehanna  river  which 
are  break-necks  in  name,  but  many  more  are  there  which 
are  so  in  character.  Paths  along  the  steep  acclivities  of 
the  huge  hills  which  here  and  there  abut  upon  that  beau- 
tiful stream,  so  high  betimes  that  one's  eye  may  measure 
a  depth  of  from  one  to  two  hundred  feet  to  the  rocks  be- 
low, and  so  narrow,  except  at  far-apart  points  where  pro- 
vision has  been  made  for  the  pui-pose,  that  vehicles  cannot 
pass  each  other  without  considerable  risk  and  difficulty. 
One  of  the  narrowest  hazards  to  which  my  life  was  ever 
exposed,  was  in  a  situation  of  this  description.  I  was  pass- 
ing down  the  left  shore  of  the  river,  between  the  mouths 
of  the  Wyal using  and  Meshoppen  creeks,  and  was  at  a 
point  on  one  of  these  hill-side  paths  where  a  convex  bend 
prevented  travelers  from  seeing  their  way  far  before  them, 
when  1  was  startled  at  finding  my  progress  obstructed  by  a 
two-horse  wagon  coming  in  an  opposite  direction.  "  How 
now,  friend?  What's  to  be  done  here?"  "Dont  know  in- 
deed," replied  the  wagoner,  scratching  his  head.  Well, 
I  had  the  worst  of  it,  for  according  to  statute,  I  had  to  pass, 
if  I  could,  on  the  outer  or  precipice  side  of  the  path,  and 
the  wagoner  therefore  had  only  my  safety  to  provide  for, 
not  his  own.  He  did  so,  too,  like  a  thorough  good  fellow, 
as  he  doubtless  was.  First,  then,  he  led  his  horses  along 
so  as  to  bring  his  wagon  as  far  up  against  the  hill  as  was 
possible  ;  then,  to  prevent  any  movement  of  it,  he  un- 
hitched them,  and  tied  them  to  a  bush.  This  done,  it  was 
found  by  measurem.ent  that  between  his  wagon  and  the 
edge  of  the  precipice  there  v/as  merely  room  for  mine.  I 
knew  my  horse  could  be  depended  on,  and  I  let  him  go, 
cautiously  ;  but  in  passing,  the  hub  of  my  hind  wheel 
locked  against  that  of  his  fore  wheel,  and  the  concussion, 
though  slight,  threw  my  other  hind  wheel  over  the  preci- 


OF    A   UNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  127 

pice;  and  there  was  I,  with  three  wheels  on  solid  ground, 
and  the  other  over  empty  space!  The  wagoner  gave  a 
yell  of  terror.  "  Hush!  my  dear  sir,""  said  I,  "  take  mat- 
ters coolly:  my  horse  will  behave  well  if  you  dont  frighten 
him;  and  as  for  me,  why  I  think  I  can  jump  out  into  your 
wagon,  if  the  worst  comes.  Only  please  to  stand  behind 
my  vehicle,  and  at  the  moment  that  I  let  my  horse  move 
forward,  lift,  if  you  can,  the  two  hind  wheels,  so  that  the 
one  shall  clear  your  hub,  and  the  other  come  up  on  to  the 
road."  This  was  effected — just  effected — and  thus  was  the 
danger  escaped.  Oh!  but  one  feels  like  taking  a  long 
breath  after  such  a  hazard. 

It  is  not  without  some  twinges  of  self-reproach  that  I 
record  a  very  ludicrous  scene  which  I,  half  intentionally, 
half  otherwise,  got  up  at  a  meeting  I  held  in  Cudderback- 
ville,  Sullivan  county.  New  York.     Accompanied  by  James 
McLauren,  I  arrived  there  late  one  afternoon,  and  had  a 
meeting  for  the  evening  notified  through  the  school.     In 
connection  with  such  notifications,  my  invariable  custom  is 
to  state  the  denomination  of  the  preacher,  but  in  this  in- 
stance  the   messenger  omitted  that    part  of  his  errand. 
Quite  a  house  full  came  together;  they  had  never  before 
seen  a  Universalist  preacher  among  them,  and  knew  not. 
as  yet  i\\^iwe  were  of  that  persuasion;  I  feared  that  when 
I  should  come  to  announce  it,  many  of  them  would  at  once 
fly  the  house.     So  to  prevent,  if  possible,  such  a  result,  I 
introduced  the  business  of  the  meeting  by  describing,  in  a 
grave  tone,  but  in  ludicrous  terms,  the  peculiarities  of  the 
Scotch  Covenanters.     I  described  how  they  sung,  and  what 
psalmody  they  used — quoting  some  quaint  specimens  of 
the  latter;  and  then  the  attempt  made  by  the  celebrated 
Dr.  Mason  to  induce  them  to  use  Watts'  Psalms  and  Hymns, 
and  the  very   laughable  issue  of  that  attempt.      My  fel- 
low preacher,  at  a  loss  to  conjecture  what  I  was  driving  at, 
and   being  himself  a  Scotchman,  curious  to  know  how  the 
affair  would  end,  looked  me  in  the  face  with  so  intense  a 
curiosity  that  it  added  not  a  little  to  the  comedy  of  the  pro- 
ceeding.    At  length,  when  I  came  to  tell  of  the  horror  of 
the  Covenanters  on  hearing  a  psalm  from  Watts  sung  by 
a  choir  in  the  gallery — how  the  members  of  the  congre- 
gation tumbled  over  each  other  in  the  aisles  in  their  haste 
to  gei  out;  and  how  the  older  ones,  who  were  too  stiff  and 
gouty  to  run,  put  their  fingers  in  their  ears  and  bawled 
out,  "  Popery  !   Popery  !    innovation  !   innovation  ! "    my 


128         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

Scotch  companion  could  hold  out  no  longer,  but  threw  his 
lank  body  across  the  stand,  and  thrust  his  pocket  handker- 
chief into  his  mouth  to  prevent  an  explosion  of  laughter. 
But,  as  in  this  attempt  he  only  half  succeeded,  it  made  mat- 
ters worse,  for  the  noise  he  made  resembled  the  brief 
spurt  of  steam  from  a  boiler  when  the  engineer  presses 
on  the  gage-cock.  The  whole  audience  now  gave  way  to 
immoderate  and  uncontrolable  laughter;  and,  alas,  that  I 
should  have  it  to  record,  I  gave  way  too,  for  my  gravity  is 
not  proof  against  every  thing.  Well,  for  a  fevf  minutes  I 
feared  that  I  had  so  far  overacted  my  part  as  to  have  de- 
feated the  object  of  my  visit;  but  gravity  being  restored  at 
length,  I  turned  the  affair  to  good  account  in  the  following 
way:  "  My  friends,"  said  I,  "  we  laugh  at  the  peculiar 
prejudices  of  the  good  people  1  have  described,  but  may 
noi  your  prejudices  be  equally  ludicrous?  You  can  hear  a 
psalm  from  Watts,  indeed,  without  running;  but  suppose  I 
should  announce  to  you — to  those  of  you  especially,  who 
expect  to  dwell  in  heaven  eternally  to  the  exclusion  of 
your  neighbors — that  God  is  equally  'good  to  all,''  and 
'  will  have  all  to  be  saved,  and  come  unto  the  knowledge 
of  the  truth;'  will  not  your  self-esteem  take  alarm  at  that, 
and  run  away  with  you,  as  the  prejudice  against  modern 
psalmody  did  with  tho'sc  good  old  Covenanters?  Well,  I  do 
so  announce;  this  is  the  doctrine  1  am  about  to  preach  to 
you,  and  we  shall  see  how  well  you  can  bear  it."  Need  I 
state  that  not  a  soul  left  the  meeting,  and  that  the  deepest 
attention  was  given  to  the  discourse.  And  the  result  of 
our  visit  was,  that  James  McLauren  was  at  once  engaged 
to  preach  there  at  regular  periods  for  the  ensuing  year. 
Thirteen  years  have  since  elapsed;  but  whoever  visits 
Cudderbackville  will  find  amongst  its  older  citizens  a  dis- 
tinct remembrance  of  that  first  Universalist  meeting  held 
in  their  place. 

On  my  homeward  route  from  Cudderbackville,  I  passed 
through  Monticello,  the  capitol  of  Sullivan  county,  where 
I  purposed  to  stop  and  hold  some  meetings;  but  I  learned 
there  that  the  most  of  its  citizens  were  absent  at  a  Metho- 
dist camp-meeting  which  was  holding  within  a  mile  or  so 
of  the  town.  I  found  good  friends  in  Judge  Peltou  and  his 
family,  who  reside  there,  and  at  their  invitation  1  delayed 
my  progress  homeward,  and  visited  the  camp-meeting.  I 
was  not  long  there  ere  I  sent  a  young  man  to  the  presiding 
Elder  with  a  note  requesting  him  to  preach  from  some  por- 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  129 

tion  of  Scripture  which  he  deemed  to  be  direct  and  strong 
to  the  purpose  of  endless  suffering,  and  to  allow  aUniver- 
salist  minister  then  present  to  follow  with  his  views  there- 
upon. No  public  notice,  however,  was  taken  of  the  request 
during  my  stay  on  the  ground,  and  in  the  sermons  which 
were  preached,  there  even  seemed  to  be  a  cautious  avoid- 
ance of  the  topic  specified  in  the  note;  it  was  not  even 
alluded  to  during  the  whole  day;  a  thing  most  unusual  at 
Methodist  camp-meetings.  1  therefore  begun  next  day  to 
proceed  homeward  by  short  and  zig-zag  stages,  holding 
meetings  in  various  neighborhoods  in  the  county  where 
meetings  of  similar  character  had  never  before  been  held. 

I  had  not,  however,  got  far  on  my  homeward  way,  ere  a 
messenger,  sent  expressly  for  the  purpose  by  my  friends, 
overtook  me  with  the  information  that  the  request  in  my 
note  was  to  be  complied  with  on  the  following  Sunday  ; 
which  was  also  to  be  the  last  day  of  the  meeting.  A  Mr. 
Pause,  from  Hudson,  had  arrived  on  the  ground  subse- 
quent to  my  departure;  he  had  also  delivered  himself  of 
a  sermon  against  Calvinism,  of  such  prodigious  argumen- 
tative power  as  to  "astonish  the  natives;"  and  while 
every  mouth  was  agape  with  admiration  and  wonder  at  his 
irresistible  logic,  he  announced  that  on  the  Sabbath  follow- 
ing he  would  bring  the  same  to  bear  against  Universalism, 
to  its  utter  demolition. 

Well,  the  Sunday  came,  and  with  it  an  immense  multi- 
tude from  all  directions.  I  had  been  preaching  on  all  the 
intermediate  nights,  and  I  brought  round  to  the  camp  just 
as  the  preacher  begun  his  services.  That  he  felt  well, 
and  secure  of  doing  a  sure  work  that  day,  was  evident 
from  a  certain  chuckle  in  his  manner;  he  would  also  occa- 
sionally point  to  me,  when  he  believed  himself  to  have 
said  something  particularly  strong,  and  would  say,  "  Will 
the  young  man  be  careful  to  put  thai  down?" 

I  must  do  Mr.  Pause  the  justice  to  say  that  he  was  ad- 
mirably qualified  for  this  species  of  partisan  warfare;  his 
manner  was  effective,  and  his  material  well  marshalled. 
Sometimes,  by  withering  invective,  he  would  excite  the 
deepest  indignation  of  his  hearers  against  Universalism; 
anon  he  would  hold  it  up  to  their  scoffs  and  derision  by 
exhibiting  it  in  a  ludicrous  point  of  view.  His  discourse 
was  nearly  three  hours  long;  and  at  its  close,  notwith- 
standing that  the  public  had  been  notified  that  1  should 
have  the  liberty  to  reply — though,  doubtless,  in  the  belief 


130        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

that  I  had  left  the  parts  and  would  not  return — the  preach- 
ers present  endeavored  to  get  persons  forward  to  the 
mourners  bench,  and  by  pathetic  appeals,  and  songs  appro- 
priate to  that  object,  they  attempted  to  effect  an  efferves- 
cence of  the  feelings  of  the  multitude,  well  judging  that 
the  reasoning  process  would  be  thus  most  effectually 
quieted. 

Public  curiosity  proved  too  strong  for  their  object,  how- 
ever; none  went  up  to  be  prayed  for;  no  such  "  sinners, 
poor  and  needy,"  as  the  song  invited  forward,  seemed 
disposed  to  answer  to  the  call ;  and  as  they  were  too  expli- 
citly committed  to  the  public  in  the  matter  of  a  reply,  to 
retreat  without  discredit  to  themselves,  they  consented  to 
my  occupying  the  stand.  1  will  say  but  little  of  my  own 
performance  on  that  occasion;  I  will  own  however,  that  a 
sense  of  the  very  responsible  position  I  occupied — almost 
alone  amid  thousand  of  opponents,  and  in  a  region  where, 
with  a  solitary  exception,  no  voice  had  been  ever  lifted  in 
advocacy  of  the  gospel  of  God's  grace — I  will  own,  1  say, 
as  I  measured  myself  with  the  occasion,  I  felt  unutterably 
insignificant,  and  needed  a  better  defence  than  the  ^gis  of 
Minerva  to  strengthen  me  for  the  conflict.  Mr.  Pause  had 
spoken  to  the  three  following  positions  :  1st.  There  is  to 
be  a  judgment  of  all  men  in  the  future  state.  2d.  The 
righteous  and  the  wicked  are  to  have  different  allotments 
in  that  judgment.  3d.  The  awards  of  that  judgment  will 
be  eternal.  In  my  reply,  I  showed  his  texts  to  be  irrele- 
vant to  a  judgment  in  the  future  state,  and  I  endeavored 
also  to  invalidate  his  arguments  from  reason,  to  the  same 
effect.  Assuming  that  1  had  succeeded  in  that  effort,  I  felt 
absolved  from  the  obligation  of  taking  any  notice  of  his 
second  position,  and  proceeded  therefore  to  refute  substan- 
tially his  third.  By  this  excision  of  a  third  part  of  his 
main  argument,  I  so  abridged  the  labor  of  refutation  that  I 
got  through  with  all  I  had  to  say  in  two  hours.  1  was 
listened  to  with  most  earnest  attention,  and  however  well 
or  ill  I  succeeded  in  what  I  undertook,  I  positively  know 
that  my  labor  of  that  day  was  not  in  vain;  for  in  passing 
through  that  region  recently,  after  an  interval  of  ten 
years,  I  met  with  several  persons  whose  first  favorable 
impressions  relative  to  our  faith  were  received  from  that 
discourse.  Mr.  Pause  seemed  himself  aware  that  my  re- 
view of  his  argument  had  greatly  changed  the  tone  of 
feeling  towards  Universalism  in  the  minds  of  the  audience 


OF   A   TINIVERSALIST   PREACHER  131 

generally,  for  he  told  them,  when  I  had  concluded,  that 
they  would  never  be  likely  to  hear  it  more  attractively  pre- 
sented, even  should  they  go  to  Boston,  amongst  the  Rabbies 
of  the  profession.  The  reader  must  not  suppose  that  my 
vanity  was  much  influenced  by  this  compliment,  for  in  the 
first  place,  I  could  not  appropriate  it;  and  in  the  second,  I 
doubted  its  being  meant  for  me;  but  was  convinced,  on  the 
contrary,  that  it  was  designed  to  prevent  the  audience  from 
thinking,  that  if  so  youthful  an  advocate,  and  of  but  ordi- 
nary abilities,  could  make  his  cause  appear  thus  plausible, 
and  the  doctrine  opposed  to  it  thus  contradictory  and  absurd, 
what  might  not  be  expected  from  Universalist  preachers  of 
greater  talents  and  experience? 

In  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  I  preached  in  the  Court 
House  at  Monticello,  and  Mr.  Pause  in  the  Presbyterian 
church — the  two  edifices  stand  side  by  side.  From  the 
largeness  of  my  audience,  under  these  circumstances,  I 
could  gather  pretty  fairly  how  public  opinion  stood  in  re- 
lation to  our  faith,  respectively,  or  to  their  advocates.  It 
is  doubtful  if  it  had  ever  before  fallen  to  the  lot  of  a  Uni- 
versalist minister  to  conclude  the  services  of  a  Methodist 
camp-meeting,  or  whether  it  is  likely  soon  to  occur  again. 
Not  far  from  the  same  time,  being  in  Honesdale,  Penn- 
sylvania, I  learned  that  a  Mr.  McReynolds,  Methodist, 
now  a  Congregationalist  minister,  had  handed  in  an  adver- 
tisement to  the  publisher  of  the  paper  there,  that  he  would 
preach  against  Universalism  on  the  following  Sabbath,  at 
Canaan  Corners,  about  ten  miles  from  Honesdale.  I  forth- 
with handed  in  a  notice  that  I  should  be  on  the  ground, 
and  should  review  his  performance.  In  the  meantime,  I 
delivered  an  evening  lecture  in  Honesdale,  at  which  Mr. 
McR.  attended — probably  in  order  to  estimate  the  mental 
calibre  of  his  proposed  reviewer.  It  seems  he  had  never 
before  heard  a  sermon  of  the  kind,  and  when  he  came  to 
perceive  the  strength  of  the  principles  against  which  he 
was  about  to  array  himself,  he  was  fairly  frightened  out 
of  his  propriety.  He  endeavored  to  persuade  me  that  I 
should  not  have  sufficient  time  for  my  review;  he  meant, 
:  he  said,  to  preach  two  long  sermons,  with  but  an  hour's 
ointerval  between,  and  I  must  improve  that  hour,  or  he 
..should  not  grant  me  leave  to  reply  at  all.  This,  to  be 
-sure,  was  affording  me  but  a  slender  chance  of  defence  for 
7  my  cause.  I  determined  to  accept  it,  nevertheless,  and 
vtake  the  risk  of  what  might  happen  to  turn  up  in  my  favor. 


132        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

On  reaching  the  ground  at  the  time  appointed,  I  was  sur- 
prised to  find  that  he  had  chosen  a  rocky  pasture-lot  for 
his  place  of  meeting,  unshaded,  save  by  a  solitary  tree, 
and  unfurnished  with  seats  of  any  sort.  He  doubtless  un- 
derstood his  motive  in  making  this  selection,  and  from  the 
reckless  style  in  which  he  ranted,  gasconaded,  and  in- 
veighed, it  was  evident  that  he  had  persuaded  himself  that 
his  measures  had  been  well  chosen  for  guarding  against  a 
reply  :  he  was  even  ignorant  of  my  being  on  the  ground, 
as  I  lay  recumbent  behind  a  mass  of  rock,  leisurely  noting 
down  his  ebullitions,  and  was  not  within  the  range  of  his 
vision.  His  surprise,  therefore,  was  manifest,  when,  at 
the  close  of  his  rigmarole,  he  was  endeavoring  by  a  dis- 
tortion of  my  printed  notice  to  prove  me  a  liar,  I  stepped 
on  to  the  I'ock  aforesaid,  and  announced  that  there  was  a 
well  seated  barn  at  hand,  comprising  a  speaker's  stand  in 
which  there  was  room  both  for  himself  and  me,  and  that 
there  we  might  forthwith  go  and  adjust  all  those  matters. 
He  remonstrated  violently  against  this  arrangement,  pro- 
testing that  the  meeting  was  his,  and  that  I  had  no  right  to 
call  people  from  it,  etc.  "I  presume,  nevertheless,"  re- 
plied I,  "  that  they  have  a  right  to  go,  if  they  please.'' 
And  they  did  please,  every  soul  of  them  1  think,  and  they 
further  pleaded  to  decide  that  his  long-winded  perform- 
ance, after  the  review  thereof  which  followed,  was  exceed- 
ingly little  worth. 

Among  the  measures  of  opposition  to  Universalism  in 
that  region,  it  became  a  favorite  one  to  represent  every 
new  convert,  made  by  either  of  the  orthodox  parties,  as 
having  formerly  been  a  Universal ist — whatever  the  age 
or  sex  of  such  convert,  however  notoriously  ignorant  of 
Universalism,  however  strange  the  announcement  to  all 
who  had  intimately  known  the  individual — no  matter,  he 
or  she  was  sure  to  have  been  a  wicked  Universalist,  and  it 
was  that  wicked  doctrine  which  had  made  them  so  wicked. 
According  to  this  I  suspect  that  Universalism  must  be  the 
original  sin  with  which  infants  come  into  the  world,  and 
possibly  which  the  devil  committed  in  Paradise.  The 
strangest  part  of  this  business  was,  that  although  every- 
body knew  these  professions  to  be  false,  yet  everybody 
affected  to  credit  them!  So  gross  is  the  duplicity  to  which 
a  spurious  religion  will  reconcile  the  conscience!  The 
following  fragment  of  a  conversation  will  illustrate  the 
unscrupulousness  connected   with  such    professions. 


or   A   UNIVERSALIST   PREACHEK.  133 

"  I  wish  to  hear  nothing  further  on  that  subject,  Mr.  R.; 
you  know  that  our  Philip  was  a  Universalist  before  God 
opened  his  eyes;  and  what  did  your  doctrine  do  for  him  ?" 

"1  know  your  Philip  was  a  Universalist?  Upon  my  word 
f  know  no  such  thing;  for  as  long  as  I  have  preached  in 
the  neighborhood,  1  have  never  seen  him  at  my  meetings  : 
I  had  never  heard  of  his  even  professing  anything  of  the 
kind.     In  what  form  did  his  Universalism  manifest  itself?" 

"Well,  here  he  is,  he  can  answer  for  himself  Philip, 
were  you  not  going  straight  on  the  road  to  hell,  in  perfect 
unconcern,  until  God  showed  you  that  your  Universalism 
was  a  refuge  of  lies?" 

"Nay,"  remonstrated  I;  "let  us  not  ■^hape  answers  for 
the  boy  by  putting  leading  questions  to  him.  I  simply  re- 
quire to  know,  Philip,  in  what  way  your  being  a  Universalist 
was  ma'lo  known?  Did  you,  for  instance,  ever  'profess  to 
believe,  or  did  you  ever  believe  in  fact,  that  God  will  ulti- 
mately bring  all  mankind  to  a  condition  of  purity  and  bliss?" 

"  No,"  said  tlie  boy,  doggedly,  "  1  was'ct  such  a  fool  as 
that  comes  to,  for  I  read  in  my  Bible  that  '  he  that  believ- 
eth  not,  where  God  and  Christ  is  he  never  can  come.'" 

"Enough  said,"  replied  I,"  your  friends  should  be  more 
tender  of  your  reputation  for  veracity,  Philip,  or  of  their 
own,  than  to  report  you  as  a  convert  from  Universalism." 

"  Hov/  does  it  happen,"  we  are  apt  to  be  asked,  "  if 
yours  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible,  that  so  large  a  propor- 
tion of  Christendom,  to  whom  the  Bible  is  equally  open, 
sincerely  believe  otherwise  ?  Have  you  more  learning 
than  all  others  ?  more  pe7iefration  ?  more  honesty  1  Or 
what  is  it  that  gives  you  a  title  to  interpret  the  sacred  text 
more  truly?"  1  confess  that  these  questions  are  such  as 
naturally  suggest  themselves  in  relation  to  our  pretensions.. 
It  is  not,  however,  that  we  think  ourselves  wiser,  or  more 
honest  than  others,  which  makes  the  difference  in  our  fa- 
vor in  respect  to  religious  truth.  The  fact  is,  mankind 
have  been  accustomed  to  have  truth  decided  for  them  by 
authority,  rather  than  by  evidence.  This  fact  has  long  re- 
tarded human  progress  in  scientific  as  well  as  religious 
knowledge.  A  convocation  of  divines,  for  example,  deter- 
mines what  must  be  received  as  true  by  all  mankind.  To 
believe  in  accordance  with  that  determination,  is  to  be  or- 
thodox in  faith;  to  believe  otherwise  is  to  be  a  heretic, 
Now  it  happens,  that  of  the  numerous  theological  stand- 
ards thus  formed,  no  two  are  in  all  their  features  alike. 


134        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

and  many  of  them  differ  from  each  other  in  very  essen- 
tial respects.  Yet  the  Bible  is  mostly  read  with  a  pre- 
disposition, of  which,  no  doubt,  the  reader  is  in  general 
unconscious,  to  force  all  that  it  contains  into  harmony  with 
one  or  another  of  these  standards,  rather  than  to  make 
discoveries  of  the  truth  it  reveals.  What  progress,  then, 
upon  this  principle,  are  we  likely  ever  to  make  in  religious 
knowledge  ?  "  But  Christianity  admits  of  no  improvement," 
I  may  be  told;  "it  came  perfect  from  Christ  in  the  first 
instance."  All  ^rue;  but  does  our  knowledge  of  Christiani- 
ty admit  of  no  improvement?  That  is  the  question — is  it 
perfect  as  it  first  com3s  to  us?  Persons  of  easy  faith  or 
indolent  dispositions,  answer  yes,  and  are  content  to  stay 
where  they  are;  minds  of  another  class  say  no,  and  push 
their  inquiries  farther.  The  following  incident  will  illus- 
trate the  difference  between  these  two  classes  of  minds. 

1  arrived  at  Esquire  Benton's,  in  Unadilla  village,  New 
York,  late  on  a  Sunday  afternoon,  and  hearing  a  bell  ring 
for  evening  meeting  of  some  kind,  I  repaired  to  the  place, 
and  found  it  to  be  a  Bible  Inquiry  meeting;  it  was  crowd- 
edly  attended;  the  clergyman  sat  in  the  center  of  the 
room  giving  out  questions  from  a  religious  newspaper — 
the  organ  of  the  sect — and  those  who  pleased  furnished 
answers.  The  subject  of  inquiry  was  the  tenth  of  Acts,  in 
which  the  vision  of  Peter  and  the  conversion  of  Cornelius 
are  related.  I  sat  in  an  obscure  corner  of  the  room,  a 
silent  witness  of  the  proceedings,  and  could  not  but  note 
that  the  questions  were  all  so  framed  as  to  elicit  just  such 
answers  and  no  other;  answers,  of  course,  in  harmony  with 
the  creed  of  the  party.  Inquiry  was  out  of  the  question; 
there  was  no  room  for  it;  nothing  in  the  proceedings  tend- 
ed to  provoke  it.  And  as  they  all  thought  precisely  alike 
upon  every  point,  and  precisely  as  the  forms  of  the  ques- 
tions presumed  them  to  think,  why  a  chapter  was  soon  dis- 
posed of,  and  time  enough  left  on  hands  to  dispose  of 
another.  To  me  it  seemed  a  most  ridiculous  farce  for  a 
number  of  grown  up  men  to  thus  meet  together  for  the 
baby  business  of  rendering  anticipated  answers  to  a  string 
of  leading  questions!  "I  will  give  you  something  better 
to  do,"  thought  I.  So,  letting  my  cloak  fall  from  my 
shoulders,  I  stood  up,  and  inquired  if  I  might  ask  some 
questions  relative  to  the  chapter  in  hand,  before  they 
passed  on  to  another.  I  was  quite  unknown,  and  therefore 
obtained  a  ready  consent,  and  proceeded  as  follows : 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  135 

1st.  Seeing  that  Cornelius  was  "  a  devout  man,  and  one 
that  feared  God  with  all  his  house,"  what  is  the  probability 
as  to  his  ultimate  salvation  in  case  that  Christ  had  never 
been  preached  to  him?  2d.  Presuming  he  would  have 
been  saved,  what  need  was  there  of  Peter's  visit,  seeing  it 
did  not  affect  the  ultimate  issue?  3d.  In  what  way  was 
Peter's  vision  adapted  to  overcome  his  prejudice,  relative 
to  entering  into  a  Gentile's  house?  4th.  How  are  we  to 
understand  his  having  learned  "  to  call  no  man  common, 
or  unclean?"  5th.  The  angel  whom  Cornelius  saw,  is  also 
called  a  man;  what  then  is  the  radical  meaning  of  the  word 
angel  in  the  Scriptures?  6th.  What  can  have  been  por- 
tended by  the  fact  in  the  vision,  that  the  unclean  as  well 
as  the  clean  were  let  down  from  heaven,  and  drawn  up  to 
heaven  again?  7th.  Can  we  gather  from  the  Bible  why 
the  preaching  of  the  Apostles  was  at  first  restricted  to  the 
Jews?  and  8th.  What  had  transpired  in  the  course  of 
events,  as  a  reason  for  the  removal  of  such  restriction? 
Will  the  reader  believe  m^e  when  I  assert,  that  not  one  of 
these  questions  was  included  in  the  printed  list? 

The  starting  of  so  many  new  points  of  inquiry  threw 
the  meeting  into  quite  a  state  of  excitement;  the  people 
looked  at  the  clergyman  as  the  one  from  whom  their  solu- 
tion was  to  proceed;  but  he  very  graciously  declined  the 
task,  and  expressed  a  preference  that  1  should  answer  my 
questions  myself !  It  was  in  vain  that  I  plead  my  youth, 
and  my  being  a  stranger,  and  therefore  the  less  entitled  to 
the  confidence  of  the  meeting,  and  my  views  the  less  en- 
titled to  its  consideration.  It  availed  not;  1  had  raised 
their  curiosity,  and  must  now  allay  it  by  enlarging  upon 
the  several  points  1  had  specified.  I  complied  as  well  as  I 
was  able;  and  so  intense  was  the  interest  of  the  meeting  in 
the  subject,  that  when  on  finding  it  to  be  after  ten  o'clock, 
I  brought  my  remarks  to  a  close,  1  was  earnestly  solicited 
to  continue  them,  both  by  priest  and  people,  without  regard 
to  the  lateness  of  the  hour.  The  following  outline  will 
exhibit  the  principles  in  my  exposition  of  those  points  of 
inquiry  : 

1st.  That  Cornelius  would  have  been  saved  in  the  future 
life,  even  though  he  had  not  known  Christ  in  this,  is  evi- 
dent from  Peter's  own  words  on  the  occasion.  "  Of  a  truth," 
said  he,  "  I  perceive  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons, 
but  in  every  nation,  he  that  feareth  God,  and  worketh 
righteousness,  is  accepted  of  him.  2d.  The  utility, 
nevertheless,  of  Peter's  preaching  to  Cornelius,  consistep 


1^6         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

in  its  bringing  him  into  a  present  salvation,  consequent  of 
a  knowledge  of  gospel  truth.  This,  undoubtedly,  was 
meant  by  the  declaration — "  He  shall  tell  thee  words 
whereby  thou  and  thy  house  shall  be  saved,"  i.  e.  saved 
at  once,  by  being  brought  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth.* 
3d.  The  vision  of  the  sheet  from  heaven  was  wisely  adapt- 
ed to  the  end  for  which  it  was  meant,  viz.  the  removal  of 
the  prejudice  which  Peter — in  common  with  all  Jews — had 
against  a  communion  with  Gentiles,  by  the  fact  that 
amongst  the  living  creatures  it  contained  were  many 
which  according  to  the  Levitical  law  were  unclean.  Yet 
these  very  creatures  were  let  down  from  heaven,  and  Pe- 
ter was  commanded  to  slay  and  eat  !  He  was  astounded 
by  such  a  behest.  "  Not  so,  Lord,"  exclaimed  he,  I  am 
too  good  a  Jew  for  that,  "I  have  never  eaten  anything 
common  or  unclean."  But  again  he  was  enjoined  to  call 
nothing  common  which  God  had  cleansed.  How  suited  was 
this  to  convince  him,  that  the  obligations  of  the  ritual 
law  were  superceded  by  the  gospel  economy,  which  placed 
all  men  upon  a  level  before  God,  and  did  away  with  all 
arbitrary  distinctions  among  creatures'.  4th.  In  the  Scrip- 
tures the  term  angel — Greek,  messenger,  or  agent — is  not 
always  referred  to  a  spiritual  being;  it  often  means  a  man, 
as  in  Revelations  ii.  and  iii.,  and  sometimes  such  instru- 
ment as  God  may  employ  for  blessing  or  for  punishing 
mankind.  "  He  maketh  his  angels  spirits,  and  his  messen- 
gers a  flame  of  fire."  It  may  therefore  have  been  a  hu- 
man angel,  or  messenger,  that  appeared  to  Cornelius. 
6th.  Peter's  declaration,  '*  God  has  shown  me  that  I  should 
not  call  any  man  common  or  unclean,"  cannot  imply  that 
none  are  actually  so  in  the  present  state;  on  the  contrary, 
all  are  sinners,  and  "judgment  came  upon  all  men  unto 
condemnation."  Its  meaning  doubtless  is,  first,  that  none 
were  to  be  regarded  as  without  the  pale  of  gospel  mercy, 
whether  Jew  or  Gentile;  and  second,  that  in  the  purpose  of 
God  all  are  destined  to  ultimate  purity,  and  therefore,  in  a 
prospective  sense,  no  man  is  common  or  unclean.  6th. 
For  a  similar  reason,  the  "all  manner  of  birds,  beasts, 
and  creeping  things" — symbolising  all  classes  and  condi- 
tions of  humanity — were,  after  being  "  let  down  from 
heaven,"  "all  drawn  up  again  into  heaven;"  for  "all  souls 

*  Which  is  satisfactory,  because  a  Scriptural  and  matter-of-fact 
answer  to  the  question,  If  all  are  to  be  finally  snved,  of  what  use 
is  preacliino?  Cornelius  would  doubtless  have  been  finally  saved, 
whether  Peter  had  preached  to  him  or  not. 


OF   A    TJNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  137 

•are  mine,"  saith  the  Lord;  he  is  the  "  Father  of  our  spi- 
rits," and  "  the  body  shall  return  to  the  dust  as  it  was,  and 
the  spirit  to  the  God  that  gave  it;"  for  which  the  Apos- 
tle renders  the  satisfactory  reason,  that  "  of  him,  and 
through  him,  and  to  him  are  all  things."  7th.  The  re- 
striction for  a  time  of  the  gospel  ministry  to  the  Jews,  is  a 
circumstance  for  which  no  specific  reason  has  been  reveal- 
■ed,  because,  perhaps,  it  was  not  important  that  it  should 
be.  We  may  conjecture,  however,  that  it  has  answered 
several  objects.  For  the  credit  of  the  gospel  in  the  world, 
both  for  that  and  all  coming  ages,  it  was  essential  that  its 
claims  should  first  be  urged  upon  the  people  among  whom 
its  founder  had  lived,  worked  his  miracles,  suffered  mar- 
tyrdom, and  arose  from  the  dead;  but  as  these  people, 
above  all  others  in  the  world,  were  bigoted,  furious,  and 
intolerant,  it  is  probable  that,  but  for  this  restriction,  the 
Apostles  would  have  dispersed  into  parts  where  their  preach- 
ing would  have  been  likely  to  provoke  less  opposition. 
We  find  that  they  actually  did  so  when  the  restriction  was 
withdrawn,  and  that  they  found  far  more  favor  among  the 
Gentiles  than  they  had  amongst  their  own  countrymen. 
Another  object  for  the  preference  given  to  the  Jews  might 
be  that,  as  in  the  purposes  of  Providence  they  were  short- 
ly to  lose  their  national  existence,  and  to  be  scattered 
among  all  the  known  nations  of  the  globe,  they  would 
thus  be  made  instrumental  in  diffusing  a  knowledge  of  the 
new  religion  through  the  wide  length  and  breadth  of  the 
Roman  empire.  8lh.  But  the  limitation  of  the  gospel 
offers  to  the  Jews  was  early  withdrawn — why?  Doubtless 
because  the  objects  therefor  were  accomplished,  A  large 
number  of  Jews  embraced  Christ;  three  thousand  at  one 
time,  and  to  that  number  "  the  Lord  added  daily  such  as 
should  be  saved,"  But  as  much  the  greater  part  of  the 
nation  were  too  far  hardened  for  gospel  labors  amongst 
them  to  be  availing,  the  gate  of  the  church  was  thrown 
open  to  the  Gentiles,  and  five  thousand  of  them  entered  it 
at  once,  shortly  afterward.  ''It  was  necessary" — said 
Paul  and  Barnabas  on  a  certain  occasion  to  some  blas- 
pheming Jews — "  that  the  kingdom  of  God  should  first  be 
preached  unto  you,  but  seeing  ye  put  it  from  you,  and 
judge  yourselves  unworthy  of  eternal  life,  lo!  we  turn  to 
the  Gentiles." 

I  must  add,  that,  until  the  people  at  that  meeting  were 
informed,  some  time  aftei-wards,  that  the    stranger   who 

ao 


138         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

thus  had  taken  part  in  their  proceedings,  was  a  Universal- 
ist  minister,  they  here  disposed  to  give  a  very  favorable 
consideration  to  the  views  I  had  offered.  I  was  doubtless 
a  young  clergyman  of  their  own  church,  who  happening 
to  be  in  the  place,  had  chosen  an  incognito,  to  mystify 
them  with  those  novel  views  for  my  own  amusement-- they 
must  seek  me  out  and  have  me  preach,  etc.  But  oh!  how 
the  tune  changed  when  they  discovered  my  profession  I 
"  I  suspected  as  much,"  said  one.  "  I  had  a  lurking  suspi- 
cion to  the  same  effect,"  said  another.  "  Why,  his  senti- 
ments immediately  betrayed  him  to  my  apprehension," 
said  a  third,  and  so  on;  until  they  all  proved  so  sagacious 
as  to  have  known  me  for  a  Universalist  from  the  very  first. 

Alfred  Peck  and  I  started  together  to  a  conference  of 
two  days,  that  was  to  be  held  in  the  village  of  Greene^ 
Broome  county.  New  York.  After  plodding  through  mud 
all  day,  we  put  up  for  the  night  at  an  inn  on  the  road,  on 
the  shore  of  the  Chenango  river.  It  was  at  a  time  when 
protracted  meetings  were  much  in  vogue,  and  fanaticism 
was  stalking  stark  mad  through  the  country.  Between  a 
bitter  spirit  of  proscription  on  the  part  of  religionists  on 
the  one  hand,  and  a  tame  servility  of  soul  on  the  part  of 
indifferentists  on  the  other,  the  poor  Universalist  preacher 
found  little  to  encourage  him,  save  what  he  drew  from  the 
consoling  nature  of  his  faith  and  the  evident  philanthro- 
py of  his  office.  We  knew,  indeed,  and  had  so  remarked 
to  each  other,  that  there  existed  much  public  good-will  in 
favor  of  our  doctrine,  if  it  but  dared  to  avow  itself,  des- 
pite the  appearance  to  the  contrary.  The  truth  of  this 
observation  we  had  opportunities  of  seeing  confirmed  in 
the  course  of  the  evening. 

There  sat  in  the  circle  about  the  fire  a  person  who,  om 
hearing  that  we  were  Universalists,  began,  sans  ccrcmoner 
a  fierce  attack  on  our  faith;  in  which  charitable  work  he 
was  soon  joined  by  another.  It  was  not  long,  however, 
ere  the  opposition  of  the  former  ceased.  He  belonged,  he 
said,  to  the  Presbyterian  denomination,  and  he  should 
much  like,  if  he  could  in  a  way  that  would  not  betray  his 
agency  in  the  matter,  to  get  one  of  our  ministers  to  visit 
and  form  a  society  in  his  neighborhood.  This  called  from 
me  the  declaration,  that  I  should  yield  all  pretensions  to 
manhood  if  I  dared  not  to  avow  my  sentiments  in  any  pre- 
sence, and  in  the  face  of  any  opposition.  "  For  of  what  use," 
I  asked,  "  is  the  form  of  a  man  to  its  possessor,  except  b© 


OF   A   ITNIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  139 

havQ  also  the  soul?  Surely  they  set  but  a  mean  estimate 
oil  the  rights  of  conscience,  who  consent  to  barter  them  for 
office,  or  interest,  or  popular  favor;  and  our  boast  of  be- 
ing a  free  people  is  a  mockery,  if  we  are  not  free  in  soul 
as  well  as  in  person." 

These  remarks  emboldened  the  latter  assailant  to  say, 
that  for  his  part,  although  a  Methodist,  if  we  would  be  at 
the  trouble  to  visit  his  neighborhood,  we  might  make  his 
house  our  home  during  our  stay,  and  he  would  take  it  upon 
him  to  provide  a  place  for  our  meetings  into  the  bargain. 

At  this  stage  of  the  conversation  our  circle  was  aug- 
mented by  two  men,  who  were  fresh  from  a  protracted 
meeting  at  Binghampton.  The  elder  of  them,  who  made 
considerable  pretensions  to  scholarship,  and  was  himself  a 
sort  of  preacher,  received  the  information  of  our  being 
Universalists  with  infinite  scorn.  "  O  I"  exclaimed  he,  "  1 
have  enough  of  such  characters  about  me  at  home;  some 
of  them  a  few  nights  ago  broke  into  some  stables  in  the 
neighborhood  and  cut  up  the  harness  they  found  there." 
*'  You  are  sure  they  were  Universalists  who  did  this?  What 
were  their  names?"  "  O!  as  to  the  particular  individuals, 
tliey  have  not  yet  been  indentified;  but  it  is  known  that 
they  were  Universalists."  "  Indeed,  it  is  most  marvelous 
that,  without  knowing  who  those  wicked  persons  them- 
selves were,  their  religious  faith  should  have  been  so  ex- 
actly ascertained  I  But  see  here,  my  friend,  you  are  just 
from  Binghampton;  what  think  you  of  the  Rev,  Mr.  S.,  late 
of  that  place,  now  of  Sing,  Sing  Penitentiary,  who  made 
several  attempts  upon  the  chastity  of  his  own  step-daugh- 
ter, and  menaced  her  life  in  case  of  resistance?  Shall  we 
take  him  as  a  sample  of  the  Presbyterian  order  of  people? 
And  moreover,  you  talk  of  your  neighbors;  it  is  somewhat 
of  a  sneaking  practice,  but  as  you  have  set  me  the  exam- 
ple, I  will  improve  it  for  your  own  good  in  future.  I  can 
name  to  you  a  neighbor  of  mine,  high  in  your  church,  who 
was  lately  convicted  of  having  frequently  stripped  his 
neighbor's  cows;  after  milking,  and  thus  getting  from  them 
the  richest  portion  of  the  milk.  And  I  can  name  to  you 
two  deacons,  my  neighbors,  who,  on  their  way  to  the  irial 
of  the  aforesaid  cow-stripper,  were  overheard  to  remark 
as  follows:  '  The  worst  part  of  this  disagreeable  business 
is,  that  we  cannot  keep  it  from  the  ears  of  our  Universal- 
ist  neighbors;  and  it  will  make  us  appear  very  mean  in 
their  eyes;  for  we  know  thai  there  is  not  one  of  them  who 


140        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

would  consent  to  do  so  dishonest  a  deed  /"   But  shall  we  take 
this  case  as  a  sample  of  Presbyterianism?" 

O!  no,  thought  my  opponent,  by  no  means;  it  was  not  a 
fair  way  of  testing  the  general  character  of  a  people,  to 
select  particular  cases;  bad  people  would  get  into  all 
churches,  etc.  etc.  But  he  hoped  for  all  that,  nay,  his 
prayer  to  God  was — but  he  was  angry,  mind  you — that 
he  might  ever  be  kept  from  believing  in  Universalism! 

"  Whew  I  worse  and  worse,  my  friend.  Nonsense,  when 
talked  to  man.  is  bad  enough,  but  to  give  wilful  utterance 
to  it  in  prayers  to  heaven,  is  to  carry  folly  beyond  all  al- 
lowable limits.  See,  now;  God  "will  have  all  men  to  be 
saved;'  is  it  your  prayer  to  be  kept  from  believing  that 
his  will  shall  ever  be  accomplished?  The  Father  sent  the 
Son  to  be  the  Savior  of  the  world ;  do  you  pray  that  yoU 
may  believe  that  the  Savior  shall  never  fulfill  the  ob- 
jects of  his  mission?  How  then  can  you  offer  the  peti- 
tion in  the  Lord's  prayer,  '  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth 
as  it  is  in  heaven?'  You,  it  seems,  would  rather  pray  to 
be  kept  from  believing  that  it  ever  shall  be  done!" 

After  that  conference  at  Greene,  I  remained  for  two 
weeks  in  the  Chenango  valley,  preaching  every  where  to 
large  audiences.  At  Oxford  village;  at  Luke  Metcalf's, 
South  Oxford;  at  Philip  Bortle's,  on  Panther  Hill;  at  Paige's 
Settlement,  New  Ohio,  and  elsewhere  :  my  message  was 
heard  with  eagerness  by  multitudes,  however  dark  the 
night  or  inclement  the  weather.  At  the  place  last  named, 
a  lumbering  district,  the  state  of  society  and  morals  had 
been  very  rude  till  improved  by  the  ministries  of  N.  Doo- 
little  and  G.  Messinger. 

It  often  happened  in  those  days,  too  often  for  my  com- 
fort, that  I  was  the  guest  for  a  night  with  a  man  whose 
wife  was  of  a  different  religion,  and  had  not  christian  for- 
bearance enough  to  treat  me  with  common  politeness, 
simply  on  account  of  that  difference.  And  here  I  make 
an  appeal  in  behalf  of  the  tendencies  of  our  faith  in  this 
respect.  Did  ever  a  Universalist,  man  or  woman,  violate 
the  rites  of  hospitality  towards  a  guest,  on  account  merely 
of  a  difference  of  religious  faith?  Ohl  most  sincerely  I 
should  hope  not.  For  is  it  not  most  disgraceful,  that  a 
principle  which  even  a  savage  respects — who  will  not  vio- 
late the  hospitality  of  his  wigwam,  even  towards  a  foe — 
should  be  outraged  by  professed  christians  for  so  slight  a 
cause  as  an  honest  difference  of  opinion?    I  arrived  one 


OF   A   UNIVERSALIST    PREACHER 


141 


night  in  the  town  of ,  New  York,  in  fulfillment  of  an 

appoinlment.  Mi%  A.,  on  whom  1  had  been  instructed  to 
call,  received  me  kindly,  took  my  horse  in  charge, and  con- 
ducted me  into  his  house.  Not  a  word  was  said  to  his 
wife  however,  as  to  who  I  was,  or  what;  but  as  I  was  an 
expected  guest,  that  of  course  was  previously  understood, 
and  her  cloudy  countenance  plainly  enough  indicated  why 
the  introduction  was  omitted.  I  had  rode  thirty  miles 
since  morning,  without  refreshment,  through  mud  and  snow, 
and  besides  being  tired  and  hungry,  I  was  thoroughly 
chilled,  for  a  raw  and  penetrating  air  had  prevailed  all 
day.  It  was  not  long  ere  an  ox-sled  passed,  on  its  way  to 
my  meeting,  two  miles  distant,  and  on  it  1  obtained  a  ride 
thither  and  back.  Of  course  it  was  well  nigh  bedtime 
when  I  returned,  pretty  well  prostrated  in  body  from  ri- 
ding, preaching,  and  long  fasting.  I  had  no  sooner  seated 
myself  by  the  fire,  than  Mrs.  A.  began  a  tirade  against 
Uaiversalists.  Tiiey  were  mean,  low,  ignorant,  infidel,  and 
I  know  not  what  all.  Now  I  knew,  that  besides  her  hus- 
band— and  of  him  common  report  was  exceedingly  favor- 
able— there  wqyq  but  two  professed  Universalists  in  the 
neighborhood;  both  of  them  physicians,  if  1  mistake  not; 
and  of  them  even  she  had  previously  spoken  in  highest 
terms  of  commendation.  Her  husband  maintained  a  silence 
and  a  placidity  which  showed  him  to  be  used  to  this  sort 
of  domestic  thunder,  and  as  she  seemed  anxious  that  it 
should  take  effect  somewhere,  she  kindly  directed  it  to- 
wards me. 

"Madam,''"'  said  I,  at  length,  in  a  playful  vein,  "suppos- 
ing Universalists  to  be  the  scape-graces  you  represent 
Ihem,  we  good  christians  ought  to  exhibit  owr  superior  piety 
to  better  advantage  than  to  be  calling  hard  names,  and  dis- 
playing bad  temper.  Your  two  daughters  here,  who  are 
just  at  the  age  to  be  influenced  for  good  or  for  evil  by  their 
seniors,  will  suspect,  I  fear,  that  we  are  no  better  christians 
than  those  whom  we  are  denouncing." 

I  had  hoped  that  a  hint  of  this  kind  would  suffice  to  put 
my  ungracious  hostess  upon  her  better  manners;  but  1  was 
mistaken.  She  was  a  regular  vixen,  and  on  she  run  with 
all  sorts  of  abuse,  getting  higher  and  higher,  until  I  began 
to  apprehend  a  violent  explosion,  and  therefore  essayed 
once  more,  in  the  same  playful  vein,  to  check  its  course. 
"  My  dear  woman,"  said  I,  "  seeing  that  I  am  but  a  small 


142         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

snbject,  and  cany  no  dangerous  weapons,  I  see  no  chance 
of  coming  off  with  safety  if  we  get  into  a  battle.  And  be- 
sides, the  shovel  and  tongs,  broomstick,  and  other  imple- 
ments of  warfare,  are  all  under  your  control.  Moreover 
I  have  no  skill  in  scratching,  and  therein  I  suspect  you 
would  have  great  advantage  over  me.  So  I  sue  for  peace; 
that  I  think  will  be  my  safest  policy.  These  young  ladies 
too,"  I  added,  "look  to  me  as  though  they  would  feel  it  a 
far  pleasanter  business  to  be  getting  me  some  supper,  than 
to  be  witnessing  a  holy  war  between  us,  and  I  really  do 
believe  that  1  could  eat  belter  than  1  could  ^^A^  at  present." 
The  young  ladies  did  not  wait  for  a  seconding  of  this  mo- 
tion from  the  mother,  but  flew  to  work  and  speedily  pre- 
pared me  some  supper,  and  were  much  relieved  no  doubt 
by  so  agreeable  an  avoidance  of  hostilities. 

But  the  poor  woman  was  doomed  to  a  more  mortifying 
defeat;  for  on  the  next  morning,  while  s!ie  was  in  the  midst 
of  a  philipic  against  Universalists,  a  neighbor  entered, 
whom  she  greeted  as  a  brother,  and  seemed  to  be  quite  de- 
lighted to  see.  He  however  commenced  relating  a  tran^ 
action  which  had  taken  place  the  day  before,  in  the  large 
village  a  ^QVf  miles  off.  A  certain  man  had  sold  a  hotel- 
keeper  a  dozen  pair  of  fowls,  all  prepared  for  cooking, 
as  he  professed.  He  insisted  on  selling  them  by  weight, 
as  he  had  taken  particular  pains  in  their  feeding.  The 
purchaser  remarked  that  it  brought  the  fowls  up  to  an  un- 
usually high  price,  but  consoled  himself  by  reflecting  that 
after  all  they  were  not  over-dear  according  to  their  weight. 
So  the  farmer  was  paid,  and  he  quickly  made  his  exit.  It 
was  not  long  after,  ere  the  hostess  came  in  to  complain  of 
a  scandalous  fraud  in  that  same  transaction;  for  besides 
that  the  fowls  had  not  been  gutted — though  they  were' slit- 
ted,  that  it  might  be  thought  they  had  been — they  were  also 
found  to  be  stuffed  with  stones,  pieces  of  brick,  and  other 
substances  to  increase  their  weight!  A  small  mode  of 
cheating,  it  must  be  owned,  but  still  not  too  much  so  for 
the  propensities  of  certain  small  people.  Well,  I  had  ob- 
served that  my  ungracious  hostess  was  most  m.ortifyingly 
interested  in  this  account,  and  quite  disposed  to  deny  its 
truth  too,  until  the  narrator  assured  her  that  he  was  an 
eye  and  ear  witness  to  the  whole  transaction;  and  then, for 
some  reason,  she  did  not  care  to  look  me  steadily  in  the 
face.     For  some  reason,  I  have  said,   and  what  was  it  ? 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  143 

Alas  !  that    same  knavish  poultry-dealer  was    her  pious 
class-leader  ! 

Towards  the  close  of  summer,  of  that  year,  1834,  I  at- 
tended the  Chenango  Association  at  Sheshequin,  where  I 
met  for  the  first  time  several  of  my  ministering  brethren; 
and  on  the  evening  of  the  latter  day  of  the  session  we 
enjoyed  together,  at  the  house  of  Col.  Joseph  Kingsbury, 
one  of  the  most  delightful  social  seasons  1  remember  to 
have  ever  experienced!  Miss  Saunderson,  who  by  the 
exquisite  sweetness  of  her  voice  and  skill  in  the  piano  ac- 
companiment, contributed  an  essential  part  to  that  eve- 
ning's enjoyment,  was  shortly  afterwards  called  to  sing 
amidst  a  far  worthier  throng  and  in  far  sweeter  strains. 
Miss  J.  H.  Kinney,  subsequently  Mrs.  Scott,  who  was  also 
one  of  that  company,  is  likewise  withdrawn  from  us  to 
mingle  her  pure  soul  with  the  spirits  of  a  holier  commu- 
nion. And  one  of  the  ministers  present,  Elijah  T.  Smith, 
has  long  been  the  inhabitant  of  a  land  where  prayer  and 
preaching  are  superceded   by  eternal  praise.     Thus  we 

*'  Like  drops  of  dew  before  the  sun, 

We  are  fading  and  vanishing  one  by  one. 

Like  rainbow  tints  of  an  April  day, 

We  are  passing  away — we  are  passing  away.'* 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Comprising  the  events  of  a  first  journey  to  the  West,  to  Pittsburg, 
Cincinnati,  etc.,  and  a  journey  to  the  last  Association  previous 
to  his  removal  from   Pennsylvania. 

It  was  toward  the  end  of  December,  1834,  that  I  started 
from  Susquehanna  county,  Pennsylvania,  on  my  first  jour- 
ney to  the  West.  My  mode  of  travel  was  on  horseback. 
The  usually  deep  snows  of  that  region  began  to  fall  as  I  pro- 
ceeded, and  ray  faithful  horse  becoming  lame,  my  progress 
was  slow  and  painful.  My  first  stop  for  the  purpose  of 
preaching,  was  at  Easton,  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
from  home,  where  I  spent  the  Sabbath,  and  discoursed 
three  times  to  large  congregations  in  the  Court  House- 
From  thence  I  proceeded  to  Reading,  through  the  fine 
Moravian  town  of  Bethlehem,  and  by  a  route  through  a 


144         EXPERIENCE,  LABOES,  AND  TRAVELS 

highly  cultivated  and  populous  country.  The  weather 
was  colder  than  had  for  many  winters  been  experienced.. 
I  tarried  and  preached  two  Sabbath's  at  Reading,  besides 
several  evenings  during  the  interim.  My  stay  there  wa& 
with  John  M.  Keim.'*  Reading  is  both  larger  and  more  hand- 
somely built  than  Easton  ;  it  lies  in  the  valley  of  the 
Schuylkill,  and  is  connected  both  by  railroad  and  canal 
with  Philadelphia,  from  which  it  is  distant  about  sixty 
miles. 

From  Reading  I  went  toWommelsdorf,  where  was  a  brick 
Universalist  church,  built  in  good  taste  :  the  society  was 
small  and  composed  entirely  of  Germans.  I  had  to  use 
the  simplest  English  possible,  to  make  myself  intelligible  lo 
them.  I  there  fell  in  with  J.  Myers,  who  for  several  years 
published  a  Universalist  paper  in  the  German  tongue,  en- 
titled the  Botschafter;  he  also  preached  with  great  indus- 
try in  various  parts  of  Pennsylvania.  1  next  visited  Potts- 
ville,  in  the  coal  region,  which  was  then  a  town  of  very 
recent  formation,  but  contained,  notwithstanding,  a  popula- 
tion of  three  thousand  souls.  I  preached  there  several 
discourses  in  the  basement  of  the  Episcopal  church.  From 
thence,  after  preaching  at  Reamstown,  where  was  a  small 
building  answering  the  double  purpose  of  a  church  and 
school-house,  I  proceeded  to  Lancaster. 

Lancaster  has  a  population  of  nine  thousand,  and  is  sit- 
uated in  a  very  fertile  and  beautiful  limestone  region: 
most  of  the  houses  are  low,  and  in  the  Dutch  style  of  ar- 
chitecture. Appointments  were  advertised  for  me  in  the 
secular  papei's,  for  Friday,  Saturday,  and  Sunday  evenings, 
in  the  German  Lutheran  church,  the  pastor  of  which  was- 
a  Universalist  both  in  j'act  and  profession.  He  was  a  wor- 
thy and  talented  man,  and  a  majority  of  his  congregation 
were  with  him  in  belief.  The  Universalists  had  rented 
the  use  of  this  church  for  a  year,  at  stated  times,  to  which 
measure  the  rigidly  partialist  part  of  the  society,  a  small 
minority,  were  bitterly  opposed.  Friday  evening's  meet- 
ing passed  peaceably,  but  on  Saturday  evening  a  body  of 
Germans  rushed  into  the  house  as  the  people  were  assem- 
bling, and  shutting  the  doors,  threatened  vengeance  to  any 
who  should  enter.  They  attacked  one  of  the  vestrymen 
with  clubs  and  brick-bats,  and  cut  and  bruised  him  seri- 
ously. They  also  attempted  to  strangle  the  sexton  with 
his  neck-handkerchief,  and  would  probably  have  effected 
their  object  but  for  the  courage  and  magnanimity  of  the 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  145 

said   vestryman,  who   rushed  to  his  rescue  and  cut  the 
handkerchief  assunder.     Time  will  not  admit  of  my  going 
into  further  details;  suffice  it  to  say  that  the  rioters  were 
arrested,  and  constables  employed  to  preserve  future  good 
order.     But  the  Mayor,  nevertheless,  took  it  upon  him  to 
dismiss  the  congregation  which  had  filled  the    house,  and 
my  meeting  for  that  evening  was  thus  as  effectually  de- 
feated as  though  the  rioters  had  been  left  with  the  field  to 
themselves.     On  Sunday,  authorized  by  the  vestry,  I  sent 
notices  through  the  city  that  I  would    occupy  the  church 
in  the  evening.     The  Mayor,  however,  attempted  to  pre- 
vent my  doing  so — he  told  me  he  could  not  be  answerable 
for  the  consequences  if  I  did,  to  myself  personally  as  well 
as  to  the  church.     My  answer  was,  that  as  to  the  personal 
risks,  I  would  take  them  cheerfully  in  the  way  of  my  duty, 
whatsoever  they  might  be ;  that  I  was  resolved  to  preach 
in  the  market-house  if  not  in  the  church;  that  if  the  May- 
or could  do  no  better  for  me  than   to  prevent  me  from 
preaching    in  the  church  agreeably  to  stipulation,  I  had 
nothing  to  thank  him  for,  as  the  rioters  could  do  that  much 
without  his    assistance,  and  that  I   therefore  would  thank 
him  to  give  himself  no   further  trouble  in  the  matter.     I 
did   preach,  accordingly,  both    on   Sunday    and   Monday 
evenings,  and  though  my  audiences  were  immense,  no  dis- 
turbance   whatever  ensued.     The  effect  of  my  meetings 
was  materially   assisted  by  the  musical    performances  of 
Peter  L.  and  George  Grosh,  on  instruments  of  their  own 
invention    called  Euphoniads.     As   to  the  city  Mayor,  he 
doubtless  was  a  bigot,  and  so  far  in  the  interests  of  my  op- 
posers  as  to  co-operate  with  them  in  his  own  way  to  defeat 
the  object  of  my  visit. 

I  tarried,  while  in  Lancaster,  at  an  inn  kept  by  a  Mr.  R., 
a  kind  old  man,  but  an  Atheist  in  creed;  his  creed  however 
he  kept  a  secret,  except  to  a  clique  of  co-unbelievers  who 
were  accustomed  to  meet  in  his  private  parlor.  These 
were  all  pew-holders,  some  of  them  communicants  even, 
of  one  or  another  of  the  churches  of  the  place.  Among 
them  was  a  very  gifted  young  lawyer  who  belonged  to  the 
Presbyterians,  and  was  in  the  habit  of  lecturing  in  favor 
of  Total-Abstinence,  Missions,  Sunday-Schools,  etc.,  all  of 
which  he  denounced  and  ridiculed  in  the  Atheistic  conclave. 
I  myself  heard  him  amuse  them  by  mimicking  the  mock- 
sanctity  with  which  he  was  in  the  habit  of  consigning  to 
the  devil  the  ungodly  opposers  of  these    popular  institu- 


146         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

tions.  This  same  lawyer  was  the  author  of  a  notorious 
hoax  that  was  practiced  upon  the  celebrated  Mr.  Finney, 
when  he  was  there  sometime  before  conducting  a  protract- 
ed meeting.  The  affair  itself  was  well  known  over  the 
whole  city  at  the  time,  but  its  author  was  even  yet  undis- 
covered, save  to  the  club  of  Atheists  aforesaid.  The  hoax 
consisted  in  a  series  of  letters  addressed  to  Mr.  Finney,  at 
different  times,  purporting  to  be  from  an  Atheist,  who  was 
laboring  under  deep  convictions  through  that  gentleman's 
preaching.  These,  as  might  be  expected,  were  publicly 
read  from  the  pulpit  for  etiect.  Certain  peculiar  circum- 
stances, it  was  pretended,  prevented  the  writer  from  making 
known  his  identity  just  then,  but  these  were  to  cease  to 
operate  by  a  particular  Sabbath,  when,  if  Mr.  F.  would 
remain  alone  in  the  church  after  the  morning  service,  the 
writer  would  be  there  to  conduct  him  to  his  home,  where 
all  would  be  satisfactorily  explained,  and  certain  marvel- 
ous matters  be  disclosed  into  the  bargain.  It  may  be  con- 
ceived that  the  community  of  Lancaster  were  in  a  high 
degree  curious  as  to  whom  this  mysterious  Atheist  could 
be;  every  countenance  was  scrutinized,  by  every  body,  as 
it  entered  the  church,  and  many  were  the  furtive  glances 
that  flashed  from  under  the  solemn  brows  of  the  male 
saints,  and  the  bonnets  of  the  sisterhood,  in  the  hope  of 
their  lighting  on  the  incognito.  None  suspected  the  law- 
yer, however,  who  with  demure  visage  took  his  punctual 
seat  in  his  accustomed  pew.  The  clique  of  Atheists  had 
their  own  fun  meanwhile  at  the  success  of  the  ruse. 

Well,  the  specified  Sabbath  came.  Mr.  F.  after  dismiss- 
ing the  congregation,  remained  in  the  church  as  required. 
It  is  said  that  the  pastor  of  the  church  and  some  of  the 
deacons,  were  seen  skulking  about  the  premises,  peepin|f 
over  adjoining  fences  and  through  crevices,  in  order  to 
obtain  beforehand  a  stolen  indulgence  of  their  curiosity, 
and  that  Mr.  F.  impatiently  motioned  them  away,  whisper- 
ing, "  keep  down —  keep  down,  I  tell  you — Iie^ll  not  come 
while  he  sees  you  abouty  But  I  suspect  this  is  an  exag- 
geration. Howbeit,  after  vainly  waiting  for  more  than  an 
hour,  poor  Mr.  F.  became  aware  that  his  simplicity  was 
being  practiced  upon  by  some  audacious  wag,  and  he  re- 
paired to  his  lodgings  in  dudgeon,  where  another  letter  of 
the  same  series  awaited  him;  this  contained  the  writer's 
apology  for  his  non-appearance;  it  set  forth  in  mock-seri- 
ousness as  the  reason  therefor,  that  the  writer's  cook  had 


OF   A   UNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  H7 

over-seasoned  a  dish  of  bean  porridge,  which,  with  special 
care,  was  being  prepared  for  his  Reverence's  dinner;  that 
consequently  the  writer,  not  having  the  fear  of  the  devil 
before  his  eyes,  had  cursed  the  cook  and  knocked  her 
sprawling  ;  that  all  the  dishes,  as  well  as  his  newly  ac- 
quired religion,  had  got  so  completely  upset  and  demol- 
ished in  the  fracas,  that,  like  the  sow  that  was  washed — 
alas!  that  he  should  say  so — he  had  gone  again  to  wallow- 
ing in  the  mire  of  Atheism.  The  next  day's  light  found 
no  Rev.  Mr.  Finney  in  Lancaster,  nor  had  he  ever  shown 
his  saintly  face  there  since. 

From  Lancaster  I  was  conducted  by  J.  Myers  to  his 
home  in  Petersborough,  and  from  thence  to  Marietta,  where 
I  discoursed  several  times,  and  tarried  with  Mr.  Grosh, 
father  of  A.  B.  Grosh,  whose  mansion  is  most  delightfully 
situated  on  the  shore  of  the  Susquehanna,  which  is  there 
a  stream  of  nearly  a  mile  in  width,  and  as  translucent  as  a 
sheet  of  christal. 

Thence,  as  I  had  parted  with  my  horse,  Mr.  Myers  con- 
ducted me  to  Harrisburg,  the  State  capitol,  which  is  a 
neat  and  compact  little  city,  with  a  population  exceeding 
four  thousand.  It  is  lighted,  and  watchmen  cry  the  hours, 
whilst  the  legislature  are  there;  which  are  large  feats  for 
so  small  a  place.  I  preached  there  in  the  Unitarian  church 
several  times,  but  not  to  large  congregations,  for  it  is  a 
place  of  no  small  amount  ol  bigotry.  Almon  H.  Read, 
Senator  from  Susquehanna  county,  showed  me  many  atten- 
tions; he  introduced  me  to  the  Governor  of  the  State, 
from  whom  I  received  several  civilities. 

On  the  whole,  I  met  with  much  to  disgust  and  somewhat 
to  cheer  me  in  that  portion  of  Pennsylvania.  Many  of 
the  Lutheran  clergymen  thereabout,  1  found,  are  at  heart 
Universalists.  That  is  good;  but  an  open  avowal  of  it 
would  be  better.  It  is  a  sad  business  for  one's  profession 
to  be  at  odds  with  one's  conscience.  On  the  other  hand, 
there  is  in  Pennsylvania  much  religious  intolerance,  much 
covert  infidelity,  and  oh!  how  much  servility  of  spirit! 
For  example,  I  bore  letters  of  introduction  to  individuals 
from  those  to  whom  they  stood  in  the  relation  of  personal 
friends,  yet  so  base  in  soul  were  they  that  they  refused  to 
honor  the  introduction,  from  an  avowed  fear  that  their 
doing  so  might  subject  them  to  the  suspicion  of  being  fa- 
vorable to  Universalism!  And  this,  gracious  God!  in  a 
country  professing  to  be  the  freest  on  earth!     Why,  who 


148         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

ever  experienced  such  mean  incivility  from  a  Pagan  or  a 
Turk?  One  poor  gentleman  begged  me,  with  signs  of 
alarm  that  were  truly  ludicrous,  not  to  let  it  be  known  in 
the  town  that  I  had  borne  a  letter  to  him,  and  he  hoped  I 
would  excuse  his  seeming  not  to  know  me  if  he  should 
meet  me  in  the  street! 

And  to  what  are  we  to  ascribe  this  most  deplorable  state 
of  things?  Without  the  shadow  of  a  doubt,  to  the  preva- 
lence of  a  stern  and  intolerant  theology;  a  theology  that 
interdicts  the  free  exercise  of  the  reasoning  faculty,  that 
makes  the  sufferings  in  eternal  fires  the  sure  penalty  of 
an  error  of  the  judgment,  and  an  exact  faith  an  indispen- 
sable condition  for  obtaining  the  favor  of  Heaven! 

It  would  really  seem  that  the  Lord  takes  the  more  care 
of  a  poor  fellow,  for  his  being  indifferently  qualified  to  take 
care  of  himself.  I  was  able  to  get  up  meetings  at  but  one 
place  west  of  Harrisburg,  and  that  was  out  of  the  direct 
route,  until  I  got  to  Chambersburg,  where  I  made  a  stop 
of  several  days,  and  discoursed  as  many  evenings  in  the 
Court-house.  But,  besides  my  expenses  at  the  hotel, each 
meeting  cost  me  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents,  for  the 
use  and  lighting  of  the  house.  My  congregations  were 
large,  increasingly  so  to  the  end  of  the  series,  but  not  an 
individual  made  the  least  advance  toward  an  acquaintance 
with  me.  My  scanty  purse  soon  leaked  dry  at  the  rate  at 
which  it  was  drawn  upon.  Nevertheless,  I  felt  an  unspeak- 
able happiness  in  lingering  about  Chambersburg,  for  I  re- 
membered that  several  years  before  I  had  been  there 
under  circumstances  of  the  greatest  possible  discourage- 
ment. "Sweet  are  the  uses  of  adversity,"  the  great  poet 
saith,  and  my  experience  has  comprised  many  confiima- 
tions  of  that  truth. 

The  following,  from  a  letter  to  my  wife,  is  an  overflow- 
ing of  the  feeling  awakened  in  my  heart  by  this  visit  to  a 
scene  of  my  former  suffering: 

"  Dear  Ruth  : — I  am  again,  after  a  lapse  of  ten  years, 
a  lodger  at  Snyder's  hotel,  sign  of  the  White  Horse,  Cham- 
bersburg. I  am  still,  thou  knowest,  but  a  poor  fellow, 
having  but  in  scanty  measure  this  world's  gear;  but  when 
I  think  of  what  1  then  was,  pennyless,  meanly  clad,  de- 
lirious with  a  fever,  inexperienced,  with  no  resource  but 
charity,  and  too  proud  in  spirit  to  sue  for  that;  and  when, 
in  contrast  with  that  state  of  things,  I  reflect  that  1  now 
have  robust  health,  that  my  energies  are  ripened,  that  I 


or  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  149 

have,  in  a  little  family  of  my  own,  new  links  that  connect 
me  with  humanity,  and  make  me  seem  to  myself  other 
than  the  isolated  orphan  I  then  was  ;  when,  Ruthy,  I 
think  of  all  this,  my  full  heart  rises  into  my  throat  with 
the  largeness  of  its  gratitude  to  heaven. 

"  I  have  been  to  see  the  angle  behind  the  Court-house, 
where,  for  want  of  a  softer  couch,  I  used  to  lie  when  my 
daily  fever  came  upon  me.  Occasionally,  to  while  away 
the  time  and  to  seem  less  an  idler  who  had  no  object,  I 
used  to  enter  the  Court-house  and  hear  the  pleadings  of 
the  lawyers;  and  when  I  detected  an  eye  scanning  my  pal- 
lid face,  I  used  to  assume  a  brave  look  and  bearing,  in 
order  that  I  might  avoid  appearing  to  be  the  sick  wretch  I 
really  was.  How  I  then  envied  the  health  of  those  law- 
yers, and  their  privilege  of  holding  a  company  of  fellow 
men  in  spell-bound  attention  to  their  words.  But,  in  that 
same  Court-house  I  am  addressing,  night  after  night,  a 
much  larger  and  quite  as  attentive  a  company.  Well, 
these  may  seem  trifles,  and  doubtless  in  themselves  they 
are  so,  but  their  associations  give  them  a  sweet  importance 
to  my  mind.  It  is  thus,  Ruthy,  that  past  afflictions  may 
enhance  the  pleasure  of  our  after  experience,  as  the  spring 
time  seems  the  more  delightful  for  the  winter  which  pre- 
cedes it,"  etc. 

Chambersburg  is  a  finely  situated  town,  surrounded  by 
a  fertile  country,  and  picturesque  in  its  scenery  from  the 
proximity  of  the  blue  ridges  of  the  Alleghenies. 

My  next  stop  was  at  the  mountain  town  of  Bedford,  seat 
of  justice  for  the  county  of  that  name.  I  went  thither  by 
Btage,  and  after  defraying  my  tavern  charges  for  the  night's 
entertainment,  I  had  not  a  single  penny  left.  What  now 
was  to  be  done?  Pittsburg,  my  point  of  destination,  was 
yet  one  hundred  miles  distant;  in  the  region  intermediate 
I  had  not  an  acquaintance,  not  a  co-believer  even,  so  far 
as  I  knew — I  could  not  dig,  and  to  beg  I  was  ashamed. 
What  was  to  he  done?  I  asked  my  wits  the  question  over 
and  over  again,  and  the  only  answer  I  could  get  from  them 
was — nothing.  I  had  just  abandoned  all  hope,  when  I 
overheard  a  young  man  say  to  another,  "  The  Sheriff  is 
about  starting  for  Pittsburg  with  his  prisoner."  "  From 
whence?  "  I  asked.  "  The  jail,"  he  replied.  To  the  jail 
I  went  forthwith.  The  Sheriff's  vehicle  was  at  the  door; 
he  was  just  taking  leave  of  his  family;  in  a  minute  more  I 
should  have  been  too  late.     I  stated  my  situation  to  him 


150         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

frankly,  told  him  that  if  he  would  convey  me  to  Pittsburg, 
and  defray  my  charges  on  the  way,  it  was  barely  possible 
that  I  should  find  friends  there  who  would  enable  me  to 
reimburse  him,  but  that,  beforehand,  1  knew  none  such. 
He  scanned  me  closely  for  a  minute,  then  told  me  to  jump 
in,  and  in  an  instant  we  were  otf. 

Really,  these  coincidences  are  either  very  lucky,  or 
very  providential !  I  shoul  1  not  hesitate  to  decide  in  favor 
of  the  latter,  if  I  were  orthodox  in  faith;  but  as  it  is,  it 
were  perhaps  a  sin  to  regard  God  as  taking  care  of  here- 
tics. 

Conceive  me  now,  seated  by  the  side  of  a  negro  prison- 
er, and,  m  connection  with  him,  at  the  charges  of  the 
Sheriff  of  Bedford  county.  But  my  sable  companion  was 
no  common  personage  after  all,  but  a  veritable  member  of 
the  sanctum  fratrum ;  a  bona  jide  subject  of  holy  orders! 

Judge  Thompson,  presiding  judge  of  the  middle  district 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  several  lawyers,  were  traveling  in 
the  same  direction  to  hold  a  court  somewhere  westerly. 
We  all  stopped  several  times  at  the  same  Inns  on  the  way, 
and  as  often  engaged  in  conversation  on  literary  and 
religious  topics.  The  judge  was  a  Presbyterian.  He  re- 
marked, nevertheless,  that  he  had  found  now  and  then  a 
Universalist  among  his  acquaintances,  and  that  they  were 
generally  correct  and  honorable  men. 

"  But  then,"  said  he,  "they  were  persons  of  unusual 
intelligence,  and  such  alone  are  likely  to  embrace  your 
faith.  I  should  dread  its  influence  on  ignorant  individuals, 
if  such  should  become  converts  to  it." 

"And  so  should  1,"  was  my  answer,  "  if  it  left  them  as 
ignorant  as  it  found  them.  But  it  evidently  does  not  so;  it 
expands  the  mind  with  sublimer  conceptions  of  the  Deity; 
it  infuses  a  wider  charity  in  the  heart;  it  counteracts  the 
narrow  selfishness  which,  of  necessity,  must  be  generated 
by  the  vain  conceit  that  the  divine  favor  is  limited  to  a 
select  portion  of  the  human  family.  Consequently,  al- 
though it  is  quite  possible  for  a  Universalist  to  be  illiter- 
ate, yet  to  be  in  religious  respects  ignorant,  is  a  thing 
not  possible,  as  1  conceive,  to  one  who  is  truly  a  Univer- 
salist." 

Arrived  o,t  Pittsburg,  my  first  business  was  to  seek  some 
friends  to  truth  in  the  city,  who  would  enable  me  to  dis- 
charge my  obligations  to  the  Sheriff.  I  knew  none  such, 
nor  had  1  been  furnished  with  references  to  any;  in  truth. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  I5l 

no  Universalist  minister  ever  before  visited  that  city,  so 
far  as  was  known.  In  the  course  of  a  few  hours'  search, 
however,  I  succeeded  in  this  first  object.  My  next  was  to 
secure  a  place  to  preach  in,  and  in  that  I  found  much 
greater  difficulty.  In  efforts  to  that  effect,  indeed,  two 
whole  days  were  laboriously  employed,  when  at  length, 
we  obtained  the  vestry  room  of  the  German  Lutheran 
church;  but  from  that  we  were  excluded,  after  our  first 
meeting,  at  the  instigation  of  the  pastor,  who  was  a  timid 
and  time-serving  man.  We  next,  at  very  great  trouble, 
obtained  the  grant  of  the  Court-house  from  the  County 
Commissioners,  who  long  withheld  their  assent  from  a  fear 
that  they  should  incur  public  disfavor  by  yielding.  Very 
large  congregations  were  attracted  to  my  meetings  by  mo- 
tives of  curiosity  and  opposition,  and  this  continuing  with 
an  increase  rather  than  abatement,  the  clergy  of  the  city 
took  alarm,  and  actually  went  in  a  body,  some  half  a  dozen 
of  them,  and  persuaded  the  Commissioners  to  exclude 
me  from  the  Court-house.  Nor  was  that  all;  the  Com- 
missioners must  atone  for  their  offence  in  admitting  ma 
thereinto,  by  engaging  it  to  a  certain  Rev.  Mr.  Tassy,  a 
resident  of  Pittsburg,  for  the  same  time  that  I  was  to  have 
occupied  it  by  virtue  of  their  previous  engagement  to  me  ! 
And  this  same  Rev.  Mr.  T.  had  the  modesty  to  request  me 
to  advertise  my  congregation  to  that  effect,  anl  to  notify 
them  furthermore,  that  his  discourses  would  be  in  answer 
to  those  previously  delivered  by  myself  Thus  my  mouth 
was  first  to  be  stopped,  and  then  I  was  to  be  refuted. 
"  Well,"  remarked  I,  when  I  had  read  out  this  notification 
as  requested,  "  it  is  to  be  hoped,  friends,  for  the  gentle- 
man's sake,  that  injustice  and  effrontery  are  not  among 
the  sins  for  which  his  creed  eternally  damns  people." 
This  was  in  the  midst  of  an  immense  congregation,  com- 
prising a  thousand  persons,  as  1  should  judge;  around  the 
lawyers'  table  sat  a  number  of  clergymen,  in  terrible  ar- 
ray for  note-taking,  as  though  they  meant  to  scare  me  with 
tbe  poet's  threat — 

"A  chiel  's  amang  ye  takin  notes. 
Faith,  an  he'll  print  it." 

I  had  taken  my  text,  and  was  proceeding  to  specify  the 
points  which  1  meant  to  establish  therefrom,  when  up 
rose  one  of  the  clergymen  and  challenged  me  to  debate 
the  subject  with  himself  publicly.     "  Agreed,"  said  I ;  "  bu-t 


15%  EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

in  what  building?  Shall  it  be  in  your  church?"  No,  the 
gentleman  could  not  agree  to  its  being  in  his  church,  nor 
would  he  take  it  upon  him  to  furnish  another  building  for 
the  purpose.  The  Court-house  he  well  knew  we  could  not 
have,  so  that  his  challenge  was  manifestly  a  mere  bravado, 
and  I  so  pronounced  it  to  the  audience. 

Again  1  began  my  discourse,  when  another  preacher 
arose  and  gave  out  that  he  should  reply  to  me  on  the  mor- 
row evening. 

"  Not  on  to-morrow  evening,  if  you  please,'*  interposed 
a  third,  "  for  I  have  already  notified  the  public  that  I  shall 
then  commence  a  series  of  replies  to  Mr.  Rogers." 

Well,  as  I  felt  under  no  obligation  to  await  an  adjust- 
ment between  these  litigants  for  the  honor  of  the  first 
lunge  at  my  heresy,  I  once  more  resumed  my  discourse. 
I  begged  that  the  audience  would  listen  to  me  for  them- 
selves, instead  of  trusting  to  subsequent  reports  of  the 
sermon,  which  might  be  garbled  and  distorted;  for  the 
clergymen  around  me  had  an  interest  in  misleading  the 
public  mind  relative  to  a  doctrine  which  they  found  it 
easier  to  denounce  than  refute  1  I  told  them  that  years 
might  elapse  ere  they  should  have  a  like  opportunity  of 
hearing  my  doctrine  from  one  of  its  accredited  ministers; 
that  it  had  cost  me  and  my  friend  several  days  of  labori- 
ous effort  to  obtain  that  house;  that  we  had  also  been  at 
an  expense  in  notifying  the  public  that  we  should  occupy 
it  at  certain  times — for  which  we  had  engaged  it  of  the 
Commissioners — that,  after  all,  we  were  to  be  denied  its 
occupancy  for  the  future,  and  the  same  was  to  be  granted 
to  our  enemies  for  professedly  hostile  purposes,  although 
they  had  houses  of  their  own  quite  as  convenient  for  the 
purpose.  These  considerations,  I  contended,  gave  me  a 
peculiar  claim  upon  their  candid  attention  and  forbearance^ 
and  should  be  my  apology  for  preaching  to  them  with  the 
utmost  plainness  and  explicitness.  Notwithstanding,  I  had 
proceeded  but  a  little  way  in  my  discourse,  ere  one  man 
bawled  out — "  That  fellow  is  not  fit  to  preach."  "  No,  he 
is  not,"  exclaimed  a  second.  "  Out  with  him  I"  vociferated 
a  third.  And  then  came  a  shower  of  missiles  from  the 
gallery,  directed  at  my  person,  by  which  a  pane  or  two  of 
glass  were  broken  in  the  window  back  of  the  desk,  and 
full  fifty  voices  joined  in  the  outcry  to  drag  him  out,  etc. 
Several  ladies  made  their  exit  from  the  house  in  high 
alarm,  which  they  found  it  difficult  to  do  through  the  ex- 


OF   A   UNIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  16^ 

cessive  crowd.  I  stood  calm  amidst  the  uproar,  and  when.' 
it  had  subsided,  1  informed  the  congregation  that  their 
very  violence  gave  evidence  against  the  religion  in  which 
they  had  been  taught.  "  For,  if  it  were  truly  the  religion 
of  Christ,"  said  1,  "it  would  lead  you  to  better  things  than 
to  maltreat  a  stranger,  to  whose  character  you  can  attach 
no  reproach;  merely  because  he  pleads  for  what  he  be- 
lieves to  be  gospel  truth,  and  in  opposition  to  what  he 
conceives  to  be  hurtful  error.  It  is  to  Scripture  and  rea- 
son, I  appeal,"  I  continued,  "  and  to  those  authorities  I  am 
amenable.  But  if  you  think  to  intimidate  me  by  brute 
violence,  let  me  tell  you,  my  friends,  you  have  mistaken 
your  man;  I  am  not  thus  to  be  stopped:  I  would  preach 
the  love  of  God  at  the  martyr's  stake." 

I  then,  a  fourth  time,  re-commenced  my  discourse,  and 
■ — with  the  exception  of  an  occasional  hiss  and  groan — was 
allowed  to  proceed  to  the  end  without  further  interruption. 

Being  now  destitute  of  a  house  in  which  to  preach,  I 
betook  myself  to  my  pen,  and  wrote  two  illustrative  tales, 
entitled  an  "Old  Settler's  Narrative,"  and  "A  Pleasant 
Rencontre."  In  these  I  endeavored  to  present  the  doc- 
trines of  Universalism  and  endless  misery,  contrastively, 
in  some  striking  points  of  light,  which  should  show  the 
superiority  of  the  former  over  the  latter  for  practical  and 
consolatory  purposes.  By  this  labor  of  my  pen,  I  de- 
signed to  effect  what,  for  want  of  a  suitable  room,  I  could 
not  with  my  tongue,  on  the  public  mind  of  Pittsburg.  But 
while  I  was  thus  employed,  a  card  appeared  in  the  several 
daily  papers — I  know  not  by  whom  communicated — in 
which  the  inhospitable  treatment  of  myself  was  com- 
plained of,  and  a  public  meeting  called  at  a  certain  hotel, 
for  the  purpose  of  taking  rr>easures  to  detain  me  in  the 
city,  and  procure  me  a  place  for  my  meetings.  The  result 
of  this  call  was,  that  about  two  hundred  persons  met  at  the 
place  specified,  and  appointed  a  committee,  through  whom 
a  large  hall  was  hired  for  my  use,  which  was  capable  of 
containing  some  five  hundred  persons.  In  that  hall  I  de- 
livered about  a  score  of  sermons;  and  it  was  excessively 
crowded  to  the  end  of  my  stay. 

Thus  much  for  a  history  of  the  introduction  of  Univer* 

salism  into  Pittsburg.     It  furnishes   additional  illustration 

of  the  fact,  that  violent  means  are  apt  to  defeat  the  end 

they  are  employed  to  promote;  and  also  that  the  utmost 

11 


154  EXPERIENCE,    LABORS,   AND   TRAVELS 

brute  force  is  very  weakness  when  employed  against  the 
truth. 

From  Pittsburg  I  proceeded  by  water  to  Wheeling,  and 
by  the  National  Road  to  Zanesville.  On  my  way  to  the 
former,  I  offered  a  pamphlet  to  a  gentleman  in  the  cabin, 
who  had  been  grinning  for  an  hour  or  two  over  a  book  of 
obscene  songs  and  conundrums.  "  As  on  board  of  a  boat," 
said  I,  '•  time  hangs  heavily  on  one's  hand  who  has  noth- 
ing to  read,  you  may  possibly  be  interested  in  the  matter 
of  this  tract;  it  contains  a  Universalist  sermon."  "-4 
Universalist  sermon  .'"  he  contemptuously  retorted  :  "  I 
have  found  something  to  approve  in  every  subject  I  have 
ever  turned  my  attention  to;  but  in  Universalism,  by  G-dl 
there  is  nothing  to  approve — Tom  Paine's  kge  of  Reason 
is  piety,  compared  to  such  d — d  trash."  Of  course  I  re- 
plied nothing  to  so  mild  and  polite  a  rejection  of  my  favor; 
but  I  bethought  me,  that  as  sinners  all  love  Universalism, 
and  saints  alone  are  opposed  to  it,  why,  of  course  this 
same  moderate  gentleman  must  needs  be  a  saint.  Can  the 
reader  doubt  it? 

There  had  never  been  manifested  in  Zanesville  a  suffi- 
cient interest  in  Universalism,  to  attract  a  large  congrega- 
tion to  the  hearing  of  it.  Abler  men  than  I  had  previous- 
ly preached  it  there,  but  to  small  audiences.  But  the  fact 
of  my  being  from  a  distance,  operated  in  my  favor.  I 
preached  nine  discourses  there  to  constantly  increasing 
assemblies,  until  the  capacious  old  State-room  at  length 
refused  to  accommodate  the  numbers  who  wished  to  hear. 
Bigotry,  of  course,  did  not  rest  easy  under  this  state  of 
things;  placards  were  found  posted  at  the  corner  of  the 
streets,  and  in  the  market-house,  describing  me  as  one  of 
the  locusts  out  of  the  bottomless  pit,  or  some  such  thing, 
and  calling  upon  the  public  of  Zanesville  to  rise  against 
me  as  they  did  at  Pittsburg.  A  certain  Methodist  preacher 
also — still  a  resident  there — arose  and  assailed  my  doc- 
trine at  the  close  of  one  of  my  sermons;  to  whose  logic, 
however,  the  task  of  reply  was  not  exceedingly  difficult. 
He  has  since  published  a  book  against  Universalism,  in 
which  I  come  in  for  a  passing  notice. 

Zanesville  is  now  a  station  for  a  Universalist  preacher, 
and  of  a  thriving  society,  which,  under  the  first  regular 
pastor,  G.  T.  Flanders,  erected  and  now  own  a  neat  meet- 
ing-house. The  town  itself  is  a  flourishing  manufacturing 
one,  with  a  population  of  six  thousand,  exclusive  of  its 


OF  A  UNI  VERS  ALI  ST  PREACHER.  155 

environs.  Its  position  on  the  Muskingum  river,  where  it 
is  crossed  by  the  National  Eoad,  is  one  of  exceeding  beau- 
ty, and  the  hills,  which  to  a  wide  extent  surround  it,  are 
rich  in  coal  and  iron  ore;  besides  that,  they  support  a 
dense  agricultural  population  amongst  their  picturesque 
slopes  and  vales. 

I  have  often  preached  in  Zanesville  in  later  times,  and 
always  feel  a  pleasure  in  revisiting  that  first  of  my  Ohio 
fields  of  labor,  for  there  are  some  choice  spirits  there. 

From  Zanesville  I  proceeded  on  horseback  to  McCon- 
nelsville,  seat  of  justice  for  Morgan  county,  which  is  also 
situated  on  the  Muskingum  river;  there  I  preached  several 
discourses.  Thence,  still  keeping  down  the  river,  I  pro- 
ceeded to  Watertown,  where  was  a  Universalist  meeting 
house,  and  a  small  but  excellent  society.  I  delivered  one 
sermon  there;  and  went  on  to  Marietta,  at  the  junction  of 
the  Muskingum  with  the  Ohio,  where  I  tarried  over  four 
days,  including  a  Sabbath,  and  delivered  six  discourses. 
In  this  charming  town  there  was  then,  and  for  a  long  time 
had  been,  a  Universalist  society,  which,  with  the  other 
religious  societies  of  the  place,  was  entitled  to  a  dividend 
of  a  fund  accruing  from  the  rent  of  a  section  of  land  ap- 
propriated by  law  to  religious  purposes.  The  other  de- 
nominations in  the  town — and  the  same  has  often  occurred 
elsewhere — contested  for  a  time  the  Universalists'  right  in 
this  fund,  until,  in  a  trial  at  law,  the  latter  obtained  a  ver- 
dict which  set  the  question  at  rest.  Since  then,  the  Uni- 
versalist society  being  without  a  preacher,  had  disbursed 
their  annual  dividends  in  the  purchase  of  books  for  a  pub- 
lic library.  Latterly,  however,  a  very  neat  meeting-house 
has  been  erected,  and  a  clergyman  settled  at  Marietta. 
It  is  a  delightful  station,  and  the  region  about  it  presents 
as  interesting  a  field  for  Universalist  labor  as  any  which 
the  State  of  Ohio  afibrds. 

Fourteen  miles  below  Marietta,  on  the  Ohio  river,  is  the 
settlement  of  Belpre;  it  is  one  of  the  oldest  settlements  of 
the  State,  and  its  inhabitants  are,  to  a  proverb,  peaceable, 
industrious,  and  virtuous.  A  Universalist  society,  of  old 
standing,  is  situated  there,  which,  with  or  without  a  minis- 
ter, has  regularly  met  on  Sabbath  days  for  religious  wor- 
ship. They  now  have  a  meeting-house,  which  overlooks 
the  Ohio  river;  but  they  were  without  one  at  the  time  of 
which  I  write.  N.  Wadsworth,  since  deceased,  was  then 
their  minister.     I  met  him  as  I  was  on  my  way  thither; 


156         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

we  were  both  of  us  traveling  on  horseback,  in  opposite 
directions,  and  were  strangers  to  each  other  except  from 
description.  We  each  guessed  who  the  other  was,  how- 
ever, and  dismounting  from  our  horses,  we  sat  and  con- 
versed on  the  river  bank  in  relation  to  our  cause,  its  con- 
dition and  prospects  in  the  Western  country.  The  day 
was  lovely:  the  scene  around  us  was  lovely:  our  hopes 
were  as  cheerful  as.  the  sky  and  landscape.  Is  the  reader 
philosopher  enough  to  determine  whether  these  had  not  a 
mutual  influence  on^  each  other?  And  whether  the  world 
within  us  is  not  apt  to  borrow  its  hues  from  the  world 
without? 

Well,  N.  Waidsworth  has  long  since  been  gathered  to 
his  rest.  And  matters  of  fact,  as  they  affect  the  cause 
for  which  he  labored,  do  now  fully  justify  the  hopes 
we  then  mutually  entertained.  We  have  now  three 
preachers  in  that  valley,  and  four  meeting-houses,  with  a 
fair  prospect  of  two  othei's,  where  there  then  was  but  one 
of  either. 

From  a  part  of  the  Ohio  shore  which  skirts  the  farm  of 
Pitt  Putnam,  at  Belpre,  I  was  taken  aboard  by  a  boat  bound 
for  Cincinnati,  where  I  arrived  at  about  nine  in  the  eve- 
ning of  the  next  day.  No  arrival  was  ever  more  oppor- 
tune. No  boat  had  arrived  for  several  days  before,  on 
account  of  the  ice  in  the  river,  nor  did  any  for  a  week  or 
two  after.  1  had  been  expected,  and  with  great  solicitude 
at  that  particular  juncture,  for  one  of  our  most  zealous 
aaid  amiable  female  members  in  that  city,  had  deceased  on 
that  day,  and  the  next  was  appointed  for  her  funeral. 
She  was  in  health  when  my  letter  was  received  announc- 
ing my  intended  visit,  and  to  none  was  the  news  more 
welcome  :  she  carried  it  from  house  to  house  of  the  friends 
of  our  cause,  and  dwelt  in  ecstacies  on  the  happiness  she 
should  enjoy  in  hearing  once  more,  what,  with  all  her  soul, 
she  believed  to  be  "  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God."  My 
feelings,  while  standing  at  her  grave — and  my  first  sad 
office  in  Cincinnati — administering  consolation  to  the  many 
who  mourned  her  departure,  may  well  be  imagined- 
Soothly  saith  the  poet — 

"Death  walks  in  Pleasure's  footsteps  round  the  world." 

I  was  the  guest  of  Enion  Singer,  at  whc^e  dwelling  I  ex- 
perienced a  cordial  hospitality;  and  by  whom,  indeed,  I 
had  been,  induced  lo  extend  my  visit  to  that  city. 


OF   A   imrVERSALlST   PSEACHER,  157 

During  my  stay  in  Cincinnati,  I  delivered  there  in  all 
seventeen  sermons,  in  something  over  two  weeks.  Most 
of  them  were  delivered  in  the  Ball  of  the  Mechanics'  In- 
stitute, which  was  hired  for  the  occasion  at  three  dollars 
per  night.  One  was  delivered  in  the  Unitarian  church, 
and  several  in  a  school-house,  now  a  livery  stable,  at  the 
•southeast  corner  of  Sixth  and  Vine  streets.  All  my  meet- 
ings were  very  numerously  attended;  more  and  more  so 
to  the  termination  of  my  stay;  and  the  interest  excited 
was  apparently  deep  and  extensive.  The  friends  called  it 
a  revival,  and  so  it  was;  for  why  may  not  truth  be  revived 
as  well  as  fanaticism? 

At  the  close  of  one  of  my  sermons,  I  was  publicly  defied 
to  an  oral  controversy,  by  a  certain  Doctor  Sleigh,  whose 
pretensions  to  learning  and  to  polemical  ability  were  very 
high.  He  was  flushed  with  the  honors  he  supposed  him- 
self to  have  won,  in  a  recent  debate  with  a  minister  of  the 
Disciples  sect,  on  the  question,  "  Is  the  gospel  salvation 
conditional?"  in  which  he,  being  a  Calvinist  of  the  old 
school,  had  taken  the  negative-  To  my  fancy,  however, 
he  was  but  a  quack  in  theology,  whatever  he  may  have 
been  in  medicine;  and  exhibited  a  spirit  by  no  means  fa- 
vorable to  the  elicitation  of  truth  in  a  public  controversy. 
i  informed  him  to  that  effect,  and  pledged  my  word  at  the 
same  time  that  I  would  consent  to  meet  any  respectable 
clergyman  of  the  city,  whom  he  could  get  to  appear  as  his 
substitute.  In  answer  to  which,  he  modestly  informed  me 
and  the  congregation,  that  he  considered  himself  as  at 
least  the  equal  of  any  clergyman  of  the  place  in  any  and 
every  sort  of  learning.  * 

I  have  always  been  of  the  opinion  of  the  sick  lion  in  the 
fable,  that  there  is  no  particular  honor  in  being  kicked  by 
the  heels  of  an  ass.  I  have  also  thought  the  devil  was  in 
the  right,  when,  according  to  Milton,  he  declined  battle 
with  the  inferior  angels,  who,  being  employed  by  Gabriel 
to  seek  him  within  the  precincts  of  Paradise,  found  him 
""  squat  like  a  toad"  at  the  ear  of  our  sleeping  grand-dam 
Eve.     Said  that  shrewd  arch  tempter — 

*  That  same  Doctor  Sleigh  subsequently  rendered  himself  very 
notorious,  by  holding  public  controversies  with  distinguished  infi- 
dels in  New  York,  Boston,  and  Philadelphia.  It  is  believed  to  have 
been  a  mere  matter  of  pecuniary  speculation  between  the  parties, 
however,  for  they  divided  between  them  the  sums  taken  in  as  th« 
price  of  admission. 


138         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

"  If  fight  I  must, 
It  shall  be  with  the  sender,  not  the  sent : 
Or  all  at  once;  for  in  such  strife  of  arms 
More  glory  will  be  won,  or  less  be  lost." 

It  were  well  for  the  public  advocate  of  truth,  to  learrs 
something  even  from  the  devil  in  this  matter,  and  not  sub- 
ject the  cause  in  his  hands  to  contempt,  by  consenting  to 
discuss  with  every  loquacious  prig  who  may  challenge 
him  to  the  same. 

Thomas  Whittemore,  of  the  Boston  Trumpet,  was  an 
early  herald  of  glad  tidings  in  Cincinnati.  His  meetings 
were  crowdedly  attended,  and  were  productive  of  a  deep 
interest  in  behalf  of  the  truth.  He  received  an  urgent 
request  to  station  himself  in  that  city,  which,  had  he  done, 
there  is  no  calculating  the  probable  results  to  our  cause 
in  the  West  by  this  time.  He,  however,  has  been  en- 
gaged with  equal  usefulness  in  another  sphere.  Josiah  C, 
Waldo  is  the  only  minister  who  had  been  regularly  set- 
tled there,  and  since  his  removal,  in  compliance  with  the 
demands  of  his  wife's  health,  the  progress  of  the  cause  of 
truth  in  Cincinnati  had  been  retrograde.  The  society  ex- 
isting there  tried  in  vain  to  obtain  a  pastor;  failing  in  that, 
they  were  obliged  to  sell  their  church — an  indifferent 
building,  and  badly  located;  they  became  scattered  in  pro- 
cess of  time,  and,  as  a  society,  extinct.  Such  was  the 
state  in  which  I  found  them,  and  the  irrepressible  feelings 
which,  in  the  absence  of  any  knowledge  of  their  condi- 
tion, induced  me  to  visit  them,  I  am  half  tempted  to  inter- 
pret as  a  call  of  Providence  :  and  this,  forsooth,  would  be 
attaching  no  small  consequence  to  my  ministrations,  were 
it  not  known  that  in  the  gospel  economy  God  employs,  as 
his  instruments,  "  the  weak  things  of  this  world."  At  the 
close  of  my  labors  there,  I  re-organized  the  society;  and  it 
then  included  some  thirty  persons  who  were  not  formerly 
of  our  faith.  This  done,  I  agreed  to  return  and  live 
amongst  them  as  their  pastor,  until  they  should  be  able  to 
obtain  one  of  less  wandering  habits  than  1  had  contracted- 
Having  procured  a  horse  at  Cincinnati,  I  started  on  my 
return  to  north-eastern  Pennsylvania,  by  a  route  wholly 
different  from  the  one  by  which  I  had  traveled  westerly. 
About  thirty  miles  on  my  way  I  put  up  for  the  night  at  an 
Irish  Inn,  in  an  Irish  settlement  called  Fayetteville:  there 
had  been  an  election  for  town  officers  that  day,  and  such  a 
scene  as  the  interior  of  the  Inn  presented  is  beyond  de- 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  159 

scription.  There  was  mud  enough  on  the  bar-room  floor 
to  have  produced  a  crop  of  potatoes;  and  wallowing  there- 
in, kneeling,  sitting,  sprawling,  were  as  fuddled  a  set  of 
men  and  women  as  ever  bartered  their  senses  for  the  in- 
spirations of  whiskey.  Some  were  making  orations,  some 
singing  of  "  swate  Ireland,"  some  crying,  some  pledging 
each  other  with  filled  glasses,  and  not  a  few  blaspheming. 
In  such  a  pandemonium,  nevertheless,  was  I  fain  to  put  up, 
for  the  night  was  dark,  and  the  roads  as  nearly  impassable 
as  can  be  imagined. 

From  thence  I  proceeded  on  through  Hillsboro',  Chil- 
licothe,  Lancaster,  and  Somersett,  all  county  towns,  to 
Zanesville  ;  thence  to  Martinsburg,  Newark,  and  Mount 
Vernon.  In  the  fine  Court-house  at  Newark,  I  delivered 
several  discourses;  the  first, on a/ij/  subject,  that  had  ever 
been  delivered  therein,  for  the  building  was  not  yet  fin- 
ished, and  the  workmen  were  at  the  trouble  of  removing 
their  work-benches  for  my  meetings.  I  preached  also  at 
Coshocton,  which  is  situated  on  the  Tuscarawa  branch  of 
the  Muskingum,  and  is  the  seat  of  justice  for  the  county  of 
the  same  name.  There  I  met  with  George  E,.  Brown,  who 
was  just  entering  upon  the  ministry,  and  has  since  distin- 
guished himself  therein  by  eminent  usefulness.  At  Mount 
Vernon  I  fell  in  with  Asher  A.  Davis,  who  was  then  the 
most  active  Universalist  preacher  in  the  West,  but  is  now 
removed  to  another  field  of  labor.  He  accompanied  me 
to  Fredericktown,  where  I  preached;  and  from  thence 
passed  on  to  Mansfield,  capitol  of  Richland  county,  where 
I  delivered  two  discourses  to  large  congregations.  At  the 
close  of  my  second  meeting  there,  I  found  myself  sur- 
rounded with  former  acquaintances,  who  had  recently  emi- 
grated from  Sussex  county.  New  Jersey.  Only  the  sum- 
mer previous  they  had  bidden  me  adieu,  in  the  expecta- 
tion that  to  the  western  home  to  which  they  were  bound, 
I  should  not  be  likely  ever  to  direct  my  steps;  nor  did  the 
contrary  seem  probable  to  myself  at  that  time;  yet,  with- 
out intending  it,  or  even  knowing  that  such  was  to  prove 
the  case,  I  had  brought  the  Gospel  to  the  very  door  of 
their  new  home;  and  ere  my  departure  I  solemnised  a 
marriage  between  a  young  lady  of  the  family  and  a  re- 
spectable farmer  of  Richland.  Strange  coincidences  occur 
betimes  in  this  changeful  life. 

Touching  that  same  marriage,  I  learned  about  a  year 
afterward,  that  in  performing  it  I  had  violated  a  law  of  the 


160        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

State,  which  requires  that  a  preacher  be  authorised  to  per- 
form that  office  by  an  express  license  from  one  of  the 
County  Courts.  Iwas  ignorant  of  such  a  requisition,  there 
being  none  such  in  the  other  States  in  which  I  had  labored. 
It  happened  that  Mansfield  was  a  place  of  much  religious 
bigotry,  and  as  1  was  but  a  visitant  in  the  country,  it  was  con- 
jectured that  1  was  unfurnished  with  the  required  license, 
and  was  therefore  a  transgressor  of  the  law,  and  subject  to 
a  heavy  fine.  Accordingly  a  warrant  was  taken  out,  and 
put  into  a  constable's  hands,  for  my  apprehension.  In 
perfect  unconsciousness  of  all  this,  however,  I  was  scamp- 
ering off  as  fast  as  my  horse  could  carry  me,  and  so  1  con- 
tinued to  do  the  whole  of  the  next  day,  and  a  constable 
weuld  have  had  to  ride  at  John  Gilpin's  speed  to  have 
brought  me  within  the  clutches  of  my  prosecutors.  The 
truth  is,  that  the  wedding  had  so  delayed  me,  that  so  soon 
as  it  was  effected,  I  found  myself  under  a  necessity  of  rid- 
ing at  a  full  gallop  in  order  to  reach  my  appointment  for 
the  night;  and  on  the  next  day,  finding  the  distance  to  my 
next  meeting  to  be  much  greater  than  I  had  supposed,  I 
was  obliged  to  go  on  at  the  same  speed.  And  thus,  by 
these  purely  accidental  circumstances,  was  I  saved. 

At  Peru,  where  I  stopped  for  a  few  days  and  preached, 
I  procured  a  dearborn  wagon,  and  changed  my  mode  of 
travel.  Thence  I  drove  to  Huron,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river  by  that  name,  on  the  southern  shore  of  lake  Erie; 
whence  I  took  passage  on  a  steamboat  for  Buffalo.  I  had 
now  traveled  over  Ohio,  in  zig-zag  directions,  for  full  four 
hundred  miles  in  all :  I  had  observed  that  in  nearly  all  its 
towns  and  settlements  there  existed  a  disposition,  in  many  of 
them  an  eagerness,  to  hear  the  gospel  of  a  world's  salvation. 
The  opposition  thereto,  I  perceived,  was  in  scarcely  any  of 
them  so  organised,  and  consequently  not  so  vigorous  as  in 
the  older  States.  In  addition  to  this,  I  saw  that  the  coun- 
try was  one  of  immense  resources,  a  fertile  soil,  a  plenitude 
of  water-power,  amply  furnished  with  mineral  wealth,  oc- 
cupying a  central  situation,  and  being,  to  a  large  extent,  a 
thoroughfare  of  travel  in  various  directions;  with  the  Lake 
on  its  northern,  and  the  Ohio  on  its  south-eastern  borders; 
having,  withal,  a  fine  climate,  and  an  agreeably  diversified 
surface.  Perceiving  the  State  to  possess  all  these  advan- 
tages, I  became  seized  with  a  burning  desire  that  it  should 
become,  to  a  much  larger  extent  than  it  was,  a  field  of 
Universalist  labor.     I  felt  sure  that  the  same   amount  of 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  161 

effort  for  the  spread  of  truth  that  was  being  made  in  some 
portions  of  the  older  States,  must  necessarily  effect  much 
greater  results  here;  and  the  language  of  Caleb  and  Joshua 
was  continually  uprising  in  my  mind,  as  applicable  to  my 
co-laborers  in  the  gospel — "  Let  us  go  up  at  once  and  pos- 
sess the  land,  for  we  are  well  able  to  overcome  it." 

The  passage  to  Buffalo  occupied  three  nights  and  two 
days,  and  was  an  uncommonly  boisterous  one,  I  had  not 
calculated  on  so  unusually  long  a  passage,  and  had  failed 
to  provide  a  sufficiency  of  provender  for  my  horse;  the 
poor  brute  devoured  my  whip,  and  one  of  the  floor-boards 
of  my  dearborn,  for  lack  of  more  dainty  and  nutritious 
fare.  It  was  the  second  week  in  April,  and  nature,  on  the 
northernmost  border  of  Ohio,  had  put  on  her  spring  robes; 
her  mantle  of  green  was  bright,  and  her  head-gear  was 
profusely  bedecked  with  lilach-flowers  and  peach-blossoms: 
nevertheless,  in  the  vicinity  of  Buffalo  she  had  not  yet  re- 
lented from  the  suUenness  of  her  wintry  mood,  and  might 
have  been  found  by  morbid  minds  disposed  to  break  affec- 
tion with  her,  in  all  the  unsightliness  of  her  dishabille.  I 
preached  a  Sabbath  in  Buffalo;  and  judged  our  cause  there 
to  be  in  about  as  cold  a  state  as  the  clime  in  which  it  was 
situated.  But  in  this  judgment  I  may  have  erred,  as  my 
stay  in  the  place  was  not  sufficiently  long  to  enable  me  to 
acquaint  myself  with  its  real  condition.  Thence  I  passed 
on  to  Le  Roy,  where  Alfred  Peck  then  resided;  with  him 
I  tarried  several  days,  and  preached  both  there  and  at  Pa- 
villion,  between  which  places  he  was  dividing  his  labors. 
I  also  preached  at  Perry,  at  Rochester,  at  Victor,  at  Au- 
burn, at  Geneva,  at  Genoa,  and  numerous  other  places  in 
western  and  central  New  York.  With  its  scenery  I  was 
charmed  exceedingly.  I  cannot  well  conceive  a  landscape 
combining,  in  a  superior  degree,  magnificence  and  quiet 
beauty  ;  and  the  inhabitants  of  that  splendid  realm  have 
co-operated  nobly  with  nature  in  embellishing  it.  Their 
dwellings  are  neat  in  structure,  and  dazzlingly  white ;  their 
towns  and  hamlets  are  adorned  with  elegant  edifices  and 
garden  enclosures, with  numerous  ornamental  shade-trees, 
and  churches  of  exquisite  models  and  symmetry  of  propor- 
tions. With  several  of  our  ministers  in  that  region  I  formed 
a  pleasant  acquaintance;  with  A.  K.  Townsend  I  spent  sev- 
eral days  at  Victor;  with  G.  W.  Montgomery,  and  Jacob 
Chase,  jr.,  I  also  spent  some  time,  respectively,  at  Auburn 
and  Geneva.     My  descriptive  powers  would  utterly  fail  me 


162         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

in  an  attempt  to  depict  the  loveliness  of  the  two  latter 
towns,  more  especially  the  last,  so  far  as  respects  its  situa- 
tion; and  yet  Canadaigua  is,  as  I  conceive,  taking  it  all  in 
all,  the  undisputed  paragon  of  western  New  York. 

I  arrived  at  my  home  in  Susquehanna  county,  after  an 
absence  of  five  months,  where,  after  remaining  for  a  few 
weeks,  we  made  arrangements  for  our  removal  from  thence 
to  Cincinnati.  We  had  spent  four  years  there  amongst 
pleasant  and  amiable  friends:  we  had  known,  at  times, 
"  how  to  be  empty,"  and  but  very  seldom  "how  to  abound,'* 
yet  had  we  experienced  no  small  degree  of  humble  hap- 
piness there;  and  if  our  income  was  small,  so  also  was  our 
expenditure;  my  whole  wearing  apparel,  indeed,  from  hat 
to  shoes  inclusive,  rarely  ever  cost  me  any  thing,  but  were 
usually  presented  to  me,  article  by  article  as  1  needed  it; 
for  money  is  commonly  less  plentiful  than  other  things  in 
that  country. 

Desiring  to  be  present  at  one  more  Association  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  previous  to  my  removal,  I  sat  out,  ac- 
companied by  my  wife,  for  Hartwick,  in  Otsego  county, 
where  one  was  appointed  to  be  held  on  the  third  Wednesday 
and  Thursday  in  June.  The  distance  was  full  one  hun- 
dred miles  by  the  route  we  took — a  most  delightful  one. 
We  crossed  the  Susquehanna  at  the  Great  Bend;  thence 
proceeded  to  Binghampton,  at  the  confluence  of  that  and 
the  Chenango  rivers;  thence  up  the  last  named  river  to 
the  very  handsome  village  of  Oxford;  from  whence  we 
crossed  a  pleasant  hill  country  which  divides  the  Chenango 
from  the  Unadilla  river.  At  a  little  villa  called  Mount 
Upton  we  stopped  to  dine  at  the  residence  of  one  of  our 
ministers,  Edwin  Ferris,  author  of  a  book  entitled  "  The 
Plain  Restitutionist;"  but  which,  in  truth,  is  any  thing  but 
plain  to  my  apprehension.  We  then  passed  up  the  very 
charming  valley  of  Butter-nuts,  about  eighteen  miles,  and 
were  delighted  with  the  fineness  of  the  road,  the  elegance 
of  the  farms  and  villas,  the  fertility  of  the  flats,  and  the 
picturesque  beauty  of  the  arable  slopes  on  either  hand. 
From  Butter-nut  valley  we  again  crossed  a  hill  country 
between  it  and  the  Susquehanna,  on  the  banks  of  which 
latter  river  stands  the  village  of  Hartwick,  nine  miles  be- 
low the  point  where  the  river  issues  from  the  Otsego  lake 
and  commences  its  sinuous  course  to  the  Chesapeake  bay. 

The  Association  at  Hartwick  was,  of  all  the  meetings  of 
the  kind  I  had  attended,  the  most  lively  and  animating. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  163 

The  congregation  was  very  large  at  the  commencement, 
and  it  continued  to  increase  to  the  close. 

A  custom  prevails  on  these  occasions  in  York  State  which 
well  accords  with  the  genius  of  our  doctrine.  Brethren 
living  in  the  vicinity  of  the  place  of  meeting  accommodate 
as  many  as  possible  at  their  houses,  v/hile  those  living  too 
remote  come  laden  with  provisions  for  the  supply  of  the 
congregation  during  the  intervals  of  worship.  The  coun- 
cil room  is  usually  the  scene  of  this  common  feast,  emble- 
matical of  "  the  feast  of  fat  things  to  all  people."  Bread, 
butter,  cheese,  pie,  and  cake  of  various  kinds,  are  profusely 
spread  out  on  a  table,  or  bench,  and  high  and  low,  rich  and 
poor,  Jew  and  Gentile,  "  all  that  will  come,  may  come," 
and  partake  freely,  "  without  money  and  without  price." 
J.  H.  Gihon,  one  of  our  Pennsylvania  ministers,  was  quite 
elated  at  a  scene  so  realizing  the  visions  of  prophecy  re- 
lative to  the  bonds  of  good-will  which  should  bind  man  to 
man  under  Messiah's  reign  :  he  had  never  witnessed  the 
like  in  his  own  State;  and  I  fear  me  it  will  be  long  ere  the 
leaven  of  gospel  influence  will  so  far  pervade  Pennsylva- 
nia, as  to  elevate  it  to  an  equality  with  New  York  and  the 
Eastern  States,  in  these  respects. 

At  the  close  of  the  Association  we  accompanied  Job  Pot- 
ter to  his  home  in  Cooperstown,  which,  as  the  reader  may 
know,  is  the  capitol  of  Otsego  county,  and  is  situate  at 
the  foot  of  the  lake  of  that  name.  The  reader  is  also  pro- 
bably aware  that  it  is  the  scene  of  one  of  Cooper's  novels 
— "  the  Pioneers."  Here  the  northern  branch  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna has  its  birth,  and  it  is  a  spot  worthy  the  immor- 
tality it  has  acquired  from  Cooper's  fascinating  pen.  If  I 
could  think  of  an  adjective  which  1  have  not  already  em- 
ployed in  my  descriptions,  and  which  would  at  once  express 
the  ideas  of  neatness,  elegance,  jjicluresqueness,  quietness, 
seclusion,  I  would  apply  it  to  Cooperstown;  for  it  verily 
possesses  these  qualities  in  itself,  and  in  its  situation,  to  a 
degree  unequalled  by  any  place  within  my  remembrance. 
My  interest  in  the  place  was  heightened  by  the  fact  that 
the  cause  of  truth  was  very  prosperous  there,  under  the 
pastoral  labors  of  Job  Potter,  whose  virtues  secured  to  him 
the  esteem  and  confidence  of  all  who  knew  him.  The 
Universalists  of  Cooperstown,  besides  a  meeting  house  at 
Fly  Creek,  three  miles  distant,  possess  a  new  and  excel- 
lent one  within  the  borough. 

From  thence  we  proceeded  to  Utica,  by  the  way  of  Rich- 


164         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

field  Springs,  where  our  brethren  own  a  fine  stone  church. 
The  spring  there  is  strongly  sulphurous  in  its  smell  and 
taste,  and  oozes  up  from  a  solid  rock,  higher  by  many  feet 
than  the  ground  in  its  immediate  vicinity.  We  reached 
Utica,  and  were  hospitably  welcomed  by  Mrs.  Skinner,  her 
husband  being  from  home.  A.  B.  Grosh  was  soon  apprised 
of  our  arrival,  and  came  to  spend  the  evening  with  us,  ac- 
companied by  his  father  and  mother,  who  M^ere  on  a  visit 
to  him  from  Pennsylvania.  We  spent  a  very  pleasant 
evening  together,  having  only  its  brevity  to  regret. 

The  next  day  we  drove  to  Clinton,  through  a  country  of 
surpassing  beauty  by  nature,  and  embellished  by  art  with 
many  tasteful  mansions  and  farms  exhibiting  a  high  degree 
of  culture.  The  Hamilton  College  (Presbyterian)  is  at 
Clinton  ;  it  occupies  an  eminence  from  whence  the  eye 
may  range  in  various  directions  over  a  landscape  of  luxu- 
riant fertility,  embossed  with  innumerable  dwellings  of 
snowy  whiteness,  and  teeming  to  repletion  with  human 
life.  The  Universalists,  also,  have  a  college  there  for 
male  students,  which  is  a  massive,  and  not  inelegant  stone 
building;  and  a  neat  academy  for  females,  which  is  a  two- 
storied  wooden  edifice,  surmounted  by  a  cupola.  Both 
these  establishments  are  pleasantly  situated,  and  are  enjoy- 
ing a  liberal  share  of  public  patronage.  Stephen  R.  Smith 
was  then  the  Universalist  minister  at  Clinton;  with  him  we 
abode  during  our  stay,  and  on  the  morrow,  being  the  Sab- 
bath, we  attended  divine  service  at  his  church.  In  the 
evening  of  the  same  day  I  preached  in  the  church  at  Utica. 
Dalphus  Skinner  was  then  the  resident  minister  there;  he 
had  returned  in  time  to  supply  his  desk  during  the  day, 
and  we  therefore  had  the  pleasure  of  his  society  until  our 
departure  for  Pitcher  Springs,  whither  we  went  to  attend 
a  Conference  which  was  held  on  the  last  Wednesday  and 
Thursday  in  June. 

Of  Utica  it  can  scarcely  be  necessary  for  me  to  give  a 
description:  much  has  been  said  by  tourists  and  journalists 
in  its  praise,  and  they  have  not  exaggerated  its  claims  to 
admiration:  I  must  own  that  it  surpassed  my  preconceptions 
of  it,  both  in  magnitude  and  magnificence.  It  is,  indeed, 
a  splendid  city — cleanly,  neat,  well  shaded;  its  better  class 
of  edifices  fancifully  adorned,  even  its  foot-pavements  fan- 
cifully chequered  with  flag-stones  and  brick  work,  and 
some  of  its  buildings  exhibit  even  a  toy-like  gaudiness  of 
embellishment.     It  lies,  too,  as  the  reader  knows,  in  the 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  165 

lap  of  the  Mohawk  valley,  and  therefore  wants  not  the  ad- 
vantage of  one  of  the  finest  situations  in  the  world  to  give 
full  effect  to  its  beauty. 

We  had  a  very  pleasant  Conference  at  Pitcher  Springs; 
a  large  congregation,  and  many  warm  hearted  and  inter- 
esting friends.  Thence,  with  Nelson  Doolittle  and  his 
wife,  who  were  present  at  the  Conference,  we  returned  to 
Oxford,  where  I  preached  in  the  evening.  The  Sunday 
following,  1  preached  at  Greene,  a  pleasant  village  on  the 
Chenango  river,  where  I  had  several  times  preached  be- 
fore; and  the  same  afternoon  at  a  school-house  some  four 
miles  above  Binghampton,  on  the  same  river.  The  neigh- 
borhood was  a  Presbyterian  one,  and  a  Sunday-school  of 
that  kind  was  occupying  the  house  at  the  time  of  my  arri- 
val; the  teachers  whereof  successively  prosed  at  the  schol- 
ars on  the  immense,  the  almost  infinite,  and  certainly  the 
eternal  advantages,  which  might  result  to  them  from  regu- 
lar and  serious  attendance  upon  the  lessons  there  inculca- 
ted. If  they  had  added,  that  said  lessons  tended  to  fill  the 
heart  with  charity,  and  improve  the  manners,  their  own 
subsequent  conduct  would  have  grossly  belied  the  aver- 
ment; for  several  of  those  same  teachers  remained  for  my 
meeting,  and  their  conduct  was  so  at  odds  with  common 
propriety,  that  I  was  under  the  painful  necessity  of  pub- 
licly reproving  it. 

"If  Universalists,''''  said  I,  in  effect,  "should,  at  a  Pres- 
byterian place  of  worship,  read  pamphlets  or  newspapers 
during  religious  service;  if  thei/  should  whisper  together, 
make  mouths  and  the  like,  why,  doubtless,  it  would  be  a 
wicked  thing  in  them,  because,  as  every  body  knows,  they 
are  a  wicked  people ;  but  when  Preshyterians  do  the  same, 
it  must  be  regarded,  on  their  part,  as  but  a  manifestation 
of  their  peculiar  kind  of  piety,  which  feels  itself  under  no 
sort  of  obligation  to  restrain  its  expressions  of  scorn  at 
every  thing  which  in  the  remotest  degree  approximates  to 
what  is  unorthodox,  however  much  in  violation  of  common 
decorum  such  expressions  may  be." 

Our  last  stop  for  preaching  was  at  Binghampton,  where  I 
often  preached  in  those  days;  and  always,  until  very  re- 
cently, to  very  small  audiences,  composed  chiefly  of  the 
humbler  class  of  citizens.  What,  then,  was  my  induce- 
ment?— the  pecuniary  recompense?  I  assure  the  reader 
that,  for  some  thirty  sermons  which  I  preached  there  in 
all,  the  total  of  my  pay  would  not  have  purchased   the 


166        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

means  to  keep  me  from  starving,  if  a  penny  loaf  had  suf- 
ficed to  that  end.  And  as  to  the  pleasure  of  the  thing,  it 
was  pretty  well  balanced  by  the  mortification  of  having  to 
meet  in  a  little  obscure  school-house  in  that  proud  village, 
and  addressing  c.  few  humble  individuals,  who  were  subject 
to  be  scoffed  at  for  so  far  bemoaning  themselves  as  to  con- 
sent to  hear  me.  And  yet,  Binghampton  was  one  of  the  places 
at  which  I  best  loved  to  preach  in  those  days,  and  it  was 
doubtless  owing  to  the  warm  sympathy  I  felt  with  the  strug- 
gling and  humble  few  who,  against  every  discouragement, 
so  zealously  maintained  their  cause  in  that  abode  of  intol- 
erance and  bigotry. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

A  second  journey  to  the  West — Visits  the  southern  portion  of  New 
Jersey — Settles  with  the  Cincinnati  Society — Organizes  a  Society 
at  Patriot,  Indiana — Connects  himself  with  the  "Sentinel  and 
Star  in  the  West" — Travels  in  behalf  of  that  paper — Sees  some 
dark  days  about  that  time. 

At  the  time  of  our  removal  from  Susquehanna  county, 
we  had  one  only  child,  a  daughter,  aged  nearly  two  years. 
Our  property  was  summed  up  in  a  horse  and  chaise,  and 
one  hundred  dollars  in  money,  with  not  one  penny  of  in- 
debtedness to  any  body.  We  thought  ourselves  rich  ! 
And  were  we  not  so?  We  have  never,  at  all  events,  been 
as  rich  since.  We  were  rich  in  youth,  in  health,  in  hope, 
in  the  approval  of  those  to  whom  we  were  known,  in  a 
strong  trust  in  Providence,  and  in  the  possession — may  I 
presume  to  add? — of  "«  cheerful  heart,  to  taste  those  gifts 
with  joy  y 

As  we  were  in  no  haste,  and  my  wife  had  never  seen 
that  city,  we  took  the  route  through  Philadelphia,  which 
from  the  home  we  were  leaving  was  distant  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles.  We  lingered  there,  and  thereabouts,  for 
nearly  a  month,  and  visited  portions  of  West  Jersey  in  the 
meanwhile,  where  I  employed  myself  in  the  old  way,  of 
preaching  wherever  openings  could  be  obtained  for  the 
purpose.  Bridgeton,  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  Esquire 
Fithian,  forty  or  fifty  miles  South  of  Philadelphia,  I  had 
been  preceded  by  A.C.  Thomas,  and  1  know  not  but  other 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  167 

of  our  ministers;  but  below  there,  in  the  whole  distance  to 
the  southernmost  point  of  the  State,  there  had  never  be- 
fore been  a  visitor  of  the  kind,  and  I  am  in  great  doubt  if 
there  ever  has  since.  I  regret  that  I  have  forgotten  the 
name  of  a  young  school-teacher,  who  accompanied ,  me 
down  thither,  and  also  the  names  of  the  several  villages  in 
which  I  preached;  I  remember,  however,  that  a  sea-ser- 
pent could  hardly  have  been  a  greater  curiosity  in  that  re- 
gion than  was  a  Universalist  preacher,  and  not  a  particle 
more  of  a  novelty.  Moricetown,  I  remember,  was  one  of 
the  places  alluded  to;  it  is  on  the  southern  shore  of  a  river 
of  the  same  name.  It  had  got  out  the  evening  before,  that 
a  Universalist  minister  had  applied  for  the  use  of  the 
Methodist  church  on  the  morrow.  The  morrow  came;  it 
was  the  Sabbath ;  it  was  amusing  to  see  the  people  flocking 
to  the  house  from  all  directions;  there  were  many  more 
than  the  house  could  contain.  "  You  cannot  have  the 
house,  sir,"  said  a  person  lo  me  as  I  was  approaching  it. 
"  Very  well,"  answered  I  quietly,  "  I  will  be  an  attendant 
on  your  worship  there,  then."  I  went  in  accordingly,  and 
took  a  seat  with  others  of  the  congregation:  a  dead  silence 
prevailed  for  several  minutes,  only  occasionally  interrupted 
by  a  deep  drawn  sigh  from  one  and  another  of  the  Metho- 
dist leaders.  Then  a  consultation,  in  whispers,  ensued, 
accompanied  with  uneasy  glances  at  the  throng  within  and 
around  the  house,  as  much  as  to  say,  "  These  people  are 
evidently  collected  in  this  extraordinary  number  for  the 
purpose  of  hearing  this  stranger  preach:  it  were  an  im- 
politic step  on  our  part  to  disappoint  their  expectation,  so 
we  must  even  submit."  Accordingly,  the  local  preacher 
approached  me,  and  after  heaving  a  sigh  of  unusual  length 
and  depth,  he  addressed  me  with,  "  Brother,  we  have  con- 
cluded to  have  you  preach  for  us,  if  you  will."  I  was 
agreed,  of  course;  and  as  I  knew  it  to  be  the  first  sermon 
of  the  kind  they  were  about  to  hear,  and  expected  it  would 
for  a  long  while  be  the  last,  I  addressed  them  with  the  ut- 
most explicitness  for  the  space  of  an  hour  and  a  half. 

On  the  same  night,  I  addressed  another  large  Methodist 
congregation,  under  nearly  similar  circumstances,  in  a 
village  about  fifteen  miles  east  of  Moricetown.  My  text 
was,  "  the  doctrine  of  endless  suffering  is,  first,  Unscrip- 
tural.  Second,  Unreasonable.  Third,  Unfit  to  Uyq  by. 
Fourth,  Unfit  to  die  by."  I  spoke  full  two  hours  to  those 
several  propositions,  and  was  eagerly  importuned  to  tarry 


168        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

longer  in  the  place,  and  to  speak  to  the  people  again  of 
those  things. 

I  preached  a  Sabbath  in  each  of  our  churches  at  Phila- 
delphia; and  then,  accompanied  by  Savillion  W.  Fuller,  I 
made  a  visit  to  Bucks  county,  and  held  some  meetings  in 
the  woods  near  Addissville,  where,  as  the  reader  may  re- 
member, I  had  oft  aforetime  preached,  both  as  a  good  chris- 
tian and  as  a  heretic.  S.  W.  Fuller  has  sometime  since 
Ceased  from  his  earthly  labors:  very  pleasant  was  his  mor- 
tal companionship,  and  pleasant  is  the  hope  that  we  have 
lost  him  but  for  a  season,  that  we  may  enjoy  him  again 
forever. 

We  proceeded  in  our  chaise,  to  our  Western  destination ^ 
by  the  way  of  Lancaster,  Carlisle,  Chambersburg,  and 
Bedford.  The  first  hundred  and  fifty  miles  is  through  a 
fertile  country;  well  watered,  and  densely  populated;  con- 
taining the  hugest  Dutch  barns  that  are  any  where  to  be 
found.  The  climate,  also,  of  that  region  is  good;  its  at- 
mosphere is  salubrious;  and  facilities  of  egress  therefrom 
to  the  seaboard  are  easy  and  numerous.  It  proved  well 
for  us  that  some  Universalists  happened  to  be  traveling 
behind  us  in  the  same  direction,  for,  as  we  approached 
Lancaster,  two  men  on  horseback  overtook  us,  one  of 
whom  called  our  attention  to  a  large  and  well-filled  port- 
manteau that  he  held  in  his  hand,  and  which,  we  were  sur- 
prised to  find,  was  our  own.  "  Your  trunk,  also,  would 
have  fallen  off  in  a  few  minutes  more,"  said  he,  "  for  the 
strap  which  held  it  is  unfastened."  We  found  it  was  even 
so  1  Our  portmanteau  and  trunk  had  been  strapped  on 
behind,  and  were  hidden  from  our  view  by  the  chaise  top; 
the  former  had  fallen  off  in  the  road  some  twenty  minutes 
before,  and  the  latter  would  soon  have  followed;  and,  it  is 
doubtful  whether  we  should  have  known  of  our  loss  until 
we  had  stopped  at  night,  when  the  discovery  might  have 
little  availed  us.  "  Whither  are  you  journeying?"  inquired 
one  of  the  gentlemen.  We  informed  him,  to  Cincinnati; 
and  also,  that  I  was  about  to  settle  there  as  a  Universalist 
preacher.  They  heard  this  with  a  pleased  surprise;  in- 
forming us  that  they,  also,  were  of  that  faith,  and  w^ere 
residents  of  Athens  county,  Ohio,  through  which  our  min- 
isters occasionally  passed. 

At  Chambersburg  we  deviated  from  our  route  at  a  right 
angle,  fo  go  to  Funkstown,  in  Maryland,  twenty  three 
miles  south  of  the  former  place.     Our  sole  motive  was, 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIS!  PREACHER.  169 

that  having  been  informed  that  a  Universalist  preacher 
was  residing  there,  and  knowing,  from  the  character  of  its 
community  in  general,  that  such  a  region  must  necessarily 
be  a  hard  one  for  such  a  preacher,  we  felt  impressed  with 
a  persuasion  that  a  visit  from  a  brother  minister  would 
encourage  his  heart  and  strenghen  his  hands.  Of  him  we 
knew  nothing  previously,  and  had  even  heard  nothing. 

It  was  toward  night  when  we  reached  Funkstown.  We 
inquired  of  one,  and  another,  whom  we  met,  if  a  Univer- 
salist preacher,  named  Davis,  lived  in  the  place?  Nobody 
knew  anything  of  such  a  person,  nor  of  such  a  character 
residing  anywhere  thereabout.  Of  course,  we  concluded 
we  had  been  misinformed  about  it,  and  therefore  drove  to 
an  Inn  to  put  up  till  morning.  As  the  landlord  was  about, 
to  put  away  my  horse,  however,  I  thought  I  would  make 
one  inquiry  more.  "Davis?''  replied  he,  "  a  Universalist 
minister? — Oh!  yes;  he  lives  in  that  little  log  house  you 
see  yonder."  To  the  little  log  house  1  went  straightway — 
knocked;  a  feeble  voice  responded,  *'Come  in."  I  entered 
and  advanced  toward  the  pale  occupant  of  an  arm-chair — 
his  lower  limbs  bandaged  with  flannels.  ''Are  you  Mr. 
Davis?"  I  asked.  "I  am,"  he  replied.  "Are  you  a  Uni- 
versalist preacher?"  "  Yes."  •'  Then,"  said  I,  "  you  arc 
the  person  I  have  come  to  see.  I  am  George  Rogers;" 
and  I  advanced  and  extended  my  hand  to  him.  "  George 
Rogers  !"  exclaimed  he,  springing  from  his  chair  as  if  he 
had  been  electrified;  at  which  his  wife  uttered  a  cry  of 
surprise,  for  he  had  not  risen  from  his  chair  without  as- 
sistance for  weeks  before.  And  I  doubt  me  if  he  would 
have  done  so  for  many  weeks  subsequent,  if  ever,  had  it 
not  been  for  the  accident  of  our  visit.  But  was  it  an  acci- 
dent, think  you,  reader? 

Their  history  was,  that  they  had  removed  from  Balti- 
more thither  some  months  before;  that  he  had  taken  sick 
on  the  day  after  his  removal,  and  had  so  continued  since; 
that  all  around  them  were  strangers  to  them,  and  charac- 
teristically shy  and  unsocial  towards  persons  of  English 
origin,  being  themselves  Germans  by  birth  or  extraction; 
and  that  their  pecuniary  condition  was  depressed  and  em- 
barrassed. Can  they  be  blamed  for  having  felt  greatly 
discouraged  under  such  circumstances?  And  would  not 
our  visit  seem  to  have  been  providentially  directed?  We 
tarried  a  week  thereabout;  he  going  with  me  in  my  car- 
12 


170         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  ANP  TRAVELS 

riage  to  various  places  in  the  vicinity,  and  my  wife  re- 
maining with  her. 

We  went  in  company  to  Harper's  Ferry.  Virginia,  where 
I  delivered  one  discourse.  Our  road  thither  was  most 
shockingly  rough.  I  had  bad  some  good  degree  of  expe- 
rience in  rough  traveling,  I  supposed,  but  it  had  not  pre- 
pared me  for  this.  The  traveler  had  at  least  two  chances 
against  his  neck  to  one  in  its  favor.  We  passed  an  index- 
board  pointing  to  the  place,  which  was  bottom  side  up;  a  fit 
emblem,  I  thought,  of  the  fate  of  carriages  which  should 
travel  that  road.  I  am  puzzled,  as  yet,  to  account  how 
mine  happened  to  keep  its  centre  of  gravity  within  th« 
base. 

Harper's  Ferry,  our  readers  know,  or  may  know  by  a 
reference  to  the  map,  is  at  the  junction  of  the  Shenandoah 
with  the  Potomac  river.  Jefferson,  in  his  Notes  on  Vir- 
ginia, describes  it  as  so  wild  and  curious  as  to  justify  a 
visit  from  across  the  Atlantic.  There  is  perhaps  a  little 
exaggeration  in  this,  although  as  it  regards  the  scientijic 
visitant,  it  may  be  true.  It  is  undeniably  one  of  nature's 
masterpieces,  in  the  wild  and  sublime  exhibitions  of  her 
power.  A  United  States'  Armory  is  located  there;  an  ex- 
tensive establishment,  giving  employment  to  a  great  num- 
ber of  hands.  It  seems  to  me,  however,  a  very  unfit  loca- 
tion, both  from  its  unhealthiness  and  its  want  of  space  for 
the  necessary  buildings,  which  are  huddled  together  on  a 
narrow  strip  of  ground  under  a  very  precipitous  ledge  of 
some  three  hundred  feet  in  altitude.  Some  of  the  houses^ 
and  all  the  churches,  of  which  there  are  three,  are 
perched  upon  the  very  acclivity  itself,  and  to  be  able  to 
see  them  from  the  street  below,  you  must  throw  back  your 
head  so  as  to  vary  but  a  few  degrees  from  a  right  angle 
with  your  shoulders.  They  are  ascended  to  by  means  of 
steps  cut  in  the  ledge.  I  should  be  proud  on  some  future 
visit,  to  see  a  Universalist  church  looking  down  on  the 
Potomac  from  the  sublime  height  of  three   hundred  feet. 

We  also  visited  Sheppardstown,  Virginia,  where  I 
preached  to  a  very  respectable  and  deeply  attentive  con- 
gregation. The  meeting  was  in  the  large  dining-hall  of 
the  principal  hotel.  Being  anxious,  on  account  of  Mr. 
Davis'  feeble  state  of  health,  to  do  all  I  could  in  the  parts, 
I  also  laid  siege  to  Hagerstown,  a  large  and  flourishing 
place,  containing  some  five  thousand  inhabitants.  But  it 
Was  a  time  of  political  excitement.     I  preached  two  eve- 


OF  A  UNiVERSALIST  PHEACHER.  171 

flings,  incurring  some  tavern  charge  each  evening,  and 
although  the  audience  seemed  highly  respectable,  and 
gave  great  attention,  yet  not  an  individual  gave  the  least 
manifestation  of  friendliness  towards  us  personally,  and 
would  not,  perhaps,  had  we  continued  a  month  amongst 
them,'  a  too  common  characteristic  of  German  towns,  and 
very  chilling  in  its  influence  on  the  preacher's  feelings. 
Nothing  of  the  kind  is  experienced  in  New  York,  or  the 
New  England  States,  or  Northern  Peunsylvania.  The 
people  there  know  nothing  of  this  phlegmatic  coldness  to- 
wards a  stranger,  who  comes  to  them  on  a  message  of  love 
from  heaven. 

From  Funkstown  we  returned  to  our  route  by  the  way 
of  Clear  Spring,  where  1  preached  an  evening  to  an  over- 
flowing congregation.  I  was  violently  attacked  at  the 
•close  by  a  preacher  of  the  New  Light  school.  On  two 
points,  he  was  sure,  infallibly  sure,  that  he  could  hem  me 
in  past  escape.  The  first  was  as  follows:  The  Scriptures 
reveal  but  one  way  of  salvation;  that  way  is  by  faith  m 
Jesus  Christ.  In  the  future  life  faith  cannot  be  exercised,* 
all  there  is  certainty.  Now  it  is  undeniable  that  millions 
leave  the  world  without  faith  in  Christ;  for  these  then 
there  can  be  no  salvation.  He  assured  the  audience  that 
from  this  refutation  of  Universalism  there  was  no  possible 
refuge;  and  that  the  only  reason  why  preachers  of  our 
faith  had  the  audacity  to  continue  propagating  it  about  the 
country,  was,  that  but  ^ew  men  in  the  world  understood 
the  art  of  attacking  our  heresy  with  effect.  However  this 
might  be,  I  deemed  that  an  attempt  at  escape  from  this 
wondrous  dilemma  would  be  no  sin,  and  I  made  it  as  fol- 
lows:  All  who  die  in  infancy,  die  without  faith  in  Christ; 
in  the  future  life  faith  is  impossible;  ergo,  all  who  die  in 
infancy  are  damned!  Now  if  the  argument  against  Uni- 
versalism is  good  for  anything,  this  is  equally  so,  and  it 
equally  applies  against  the  salvation  of  all  who  die  in  hea- 
thenism or  idiocy.  By  proving  too  much,  therefore,  it 
proves  nothing. 

His  second  dilemma  was  based  on  the  case  of  the  ser- 
vant, in  the  gospel,  who  was  cast  by  his  offended  Lord  into 
prison  until  he  should  pay  the  uttermost  farthing.  "  But," 
demanded  my  querist — who  assumed  the  applicability  of 
the  case  to  the  future  state  of  sinners  in  general — "  but  as 
he  *  had  nothing  wherewith  to  pay,'  how  is  he  ever  to  dis- 
charge that  debt  and  get  out  of  hell?" 


172         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 


wered  I. 

"  Can  you  point  me  to  any  such  act,"  he  demanded, 
"  in  the  gospel  economy?" 

"  Assuredly  I  can,  my  friend,"  was  my  reply,  "  and 
here  it  is:  '  All  have  sinned,  and  come  short  of  the  glory 
of  God;  being  justified  freely  by  his  grace,  through  the 
redemption  that  it  is  in  Christ  Jesus.'  Here,  I  think,  is  an 
act  of  universal  aJsolvency  from  a  condition  of  universal 
insolvency;  an  absolution  co-extensive  with  the  indebted- 
ness of  our  whole  race."  It  were  strange,  indeed  -think 
you  not  so,  reader? — if  the  statutes  of  heaven  were  less 
benevolently  considerate  of  human  incapacity  than  are 
the  laws  of  man! 

West  of  Chambersburg  fourteen  miles  is  a  little  village 
called  Loudon;  it  is  at  the  very  foot  of  one  of  those  nu- 
merous ridges,  of  which  the  traveler  will  be  heartily  tired 
before  he  reaches  Pittsburg.  I  preached  there  on  a  Sab- 
bath evening,  and  some  came  to  hear  me  from  the  oppo- 
site foot  of  the  ridge,  which  is  distant  eight  miles.  In  the 
evening  we  called  on  an  aged  friend  named  Walker;  his 
residence  is  twenty-six  miles  from  Loudon,  in  the  town  of 
Licking;  so  called,  I  presume,  from  a  creek  of  that  name 
which  runs  through  it. 

I  preached  there  xw  ^  free  meeting  house,  which  never- 
theless, was  opened  for  the  occasion  joer /orce ;  it  was  situ- 
ated in  a  wild  looking  place  enough;  embosomed  in  woods, 
in  a  deep,  deep  dell,  to  which  one  would  think  the  sun 
would  never  find  its  way.  I  had  so  fatigued  myself  during 
the  day,  by  walking  up  the  mountain  for  the  relief  of  my 
horse,  and  by  walking  a  full  mile  to  the  meeting  from  Mr. 
Walker"'s,  that  it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  I  could 
keep  my  eyes  open  through  my  sermon,  or  get  my  mouth 
closed  after  widely  opening  it:  there  seemed  a  wondrous- 
ly  strong  attraction  that  night  between  my  breast  and 
lower  jaw.  How  my  tongue  got  through  its  office,  except 
from  habit,  I  cannot  account. 

We  did  not  stop  at  Bedford  over  more  than  one  night, 
and  that  the  night  of  an  election  day;  so  of  course  I 
made  no  attempt  to  preach.  But  I  called  on  and  introduced 
my  wife  to  the  Sheriff,  who  had  befriended  me  the  winter 
before  so  seasonably,  and  we  breakfasted  with  him  to- 
gether next  morning  by  invitation. 

On  our  arrival  at  Pittsburg  we  found  our  friends  in  that 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  173 

city  in  eager  expectation  of  us;  they  had  founded  high 
hopes  on  my  ability  to  accomplish  great  things  for  them 
there,  and  I  must  needs  go  to  work  without  delay  in  order 
to  a  fulfillment  of  the  same,  if  possible.  Meanwhile  a  let- 
ter from  Cincinnati  informed  me  that  there,  also,  my  com- 
ing was  looked  for  with  much  anxiety,  and  that  our  cause 
must  remain  in  statu  quo  until  I  should  arrive.  Well,  on 
the  principle  of  "  first  come,  first  served,"  I  went  most 
earnestly  into  the  work  at  Pittsburg.  We  had  to  be  con- 
tent with  the  Concert  Hall  for  our  chapel,  upon  the  walls 
of  which  were  hung  pictures  representing  the  different 
figures  of  a  quadrille;  and  in  the  rear  of  which  was  a 
nine-pin  alley!  In  this  gracious  place,  for  which  we  were 
charged  five  dollars  a  week,  I  preached  three  sermons  per 
Sabbath,  for  nine  weeks.  During  which  time  1  organized 
a  society,  and  procured  the  purchase  of  a  small  Baptist 
meeting-house. 

This  done,  I  remembered  my  sick  fellow-laborer  at 
Funkstown,  S.  A,  Davis,  and  effected  arrangements  where- 
by he  was  settled  as  the  pastor  of  the  Pittsburg  society. 
I  set  down  those  nine  weeks  of  incessant  care,  labor  and 
vexation  at  Pittsburg,  as  decidedly  the  most  toilsome  of  my 
whole  life;  and  for  them  I  neither  received,  expected,  nor 
wished  any  recompence.  I  kjiew  it  to  be  utterly  out  of  the 
power  of  the  society  to  render  it,  in  conjunction  with  their 
other  heavy  disbursements.  They  had  the  will.  God 
bless  them  ! 

It  was  mid  December  when  we  embarked  at  Pittsburg 
for  Cincinnati.  The  navigation  had  been  obstructed  for 
two  or  three  weeks  by  the  freezing  of  the  river,  and  ours 
was  the  first  boat  which  ventured  to  put  out  when  the  ice 
sufficiently  disparted  to  admit  of  a  boat  forcing  through. 
Under  these  circumstances,  it  was  not  until  after  a  tedious 
passage  of  four  days  and  nights  that  we  reached  the 
Queen  City. 

Our  place  of  worship,  when  I  commenced  my  pastoral 
duties  at  Cincinnati,  was  the  school-house  aforementioned, 
now  used  as  a  stable,  at  the  corner  of  Sixth  and  Vine 
streets.  It  was  usually  well  filled  at  our  meetings,  but 
it  required  no  vast  multitude  to  fill  it.  It  was  not  long 
ere  we  purchased  the  property  then  owned  by  the  Me- 
chanics' Institute,  at  the  price  of  six  thousand  six  hun- 
dred dollars,  which,  valuing  the  building  at  naught,  was  at 
the  rate  of  one  hundred  dollars  per  foot.     It  was  deemed 


174        EXPERIENCE^  LABOKS,  AND  TRAVELS 

a  very  cheap  purchase,  and  it  assuredly  was  an  opportune- 
one  for  us,  for  it  put  us  at  once  into  possession  of  a  build- 
ing which  answered  our  purpose  as  a  place  of  worship  for 
several  years.  We  were  poor  in  pecuniary  means  at  that 
time,  however,  and  it  put  our  friends  to  a  strain  of  their 
liberality  to  get  along  with  it. 

Meanwhile,  I  had  visited  and  formed  a  society  at  Patriot^ 
Indiana,  about  fifty  miles  by  water  from  Cincinnati,  and 
twenty-eight  by  land.  Two  families  had  removed  thither 
from  the  latter  city  the  summer  before,  whose  interest  in 
Universalism  had  been  awakened  at  my  meetings  of  the 
previous  winter.  Our  society  there  was  increased  from 
time  to  time,  until  it  comprised  nearly  all  in  the  place 
who  professed  Christianity.  They  immediately  began  to 
hold  meetings  for  worship  on  the  Sabbath,  and  they  have 
continued  the  practice  to  the  present  time,  whether  they 
were  with  or  without  a  pastor.  They  own  a  fine  brick 
church  at  present,  and  a  preacher  may  generally  assure 
himself  of  finding  it  well  filled  at  the  times  appointed, 
whatever  may  be  the  state  of  the  weather  or  the  roads. 

Well,  my  barque  had  now  been  for  a  considerable  while 
gliding  smoothly  along  before  favorable  breezes,  and  it 
must  needs  at  length  encounter  adverse  gales  and  tossing 
billows.  In  plain  terms,  I  had  had  a  long  season  of  unin- 
terrupted prosperity;  every  thing  to  which  1  had  laid  my 
hands  had  seemed  to  prosper;  but  from  this  period  I  began 
to  experience  reverses,  which  Hewhoknoweth  man's  heart 
knew  to  be  necessary  for  me,  "  lest  1  might  be  exalted  above 
measure." 

At  the  earnest  solicitation  of  Samuel  Tizzard,  the  then 
proprietor  of  the  Sentinel  and  Star  in  the  West,  I  consent- 
ed to  become  an  assistant  editor  of  that  publication.  It 
had  just  been  removed  from  Philomath,  Indiana,  where  it 
had  been  published  for  some  two  years,  much  to  its  detri- 
ment, aiid  to  the  great  loss  and  mortification  of  its  pub- 
lisher. It  was  thought  that  I  might  succeed  in  resuscita- 
ting it;  and  I  was  easily  induced  to  try  to  do,  in  those  days^ 
whatever  I  believed  was  possible  to  he  done  for  the  further- 
ance of  the  cause  of  truth.  Accordingly,  procuring  Wil- 
liam West,  from  Philadelphia,  to  supply  my  place  at  Cin- 
cinnati, I  took  leave  of  absence  for  several  weeks,  and 
journeyed  northerly,  with  the  view  of  making  what  inte- 
rest I  could  for  the  paper  in  that  direction. 

This,  to  me,  was  as  sheer  a  self-sacrifice  as  I  ever  vol- 


OF  A  UNITERSALIST  PREACHER.  17S 

untarily  subjected  myself  to.  I  had  borne  the  main  brunt 
of  the  difficulties  incident  to  the  establishing  of  a  church 
in  a  large  city,  and  to  those  who  have  not  experienced 
them  it  is  not  easily  conceivable  what  those  difficulties  are. 
Between  my  substitute,  Mr.  West,  and  myself,  there  exist- 
ed a  private  understanding,  that  should  the  society  then 
approve  of  the  measure,  1  would  resign  my  pastoral  rela- 
tion thereto  in  his  favor  on  my  return.  This  surrender  of 
the  advantage  that  might  accrue  to  myself  from  what  had 
been  already  effected  at  Cincinnati,  was  wholly  induced 
by  my  most  earnest  desire  for  a  wide  diffusion  of  our 
principles  in  the  West.  I  trusted  that  I  could  achieve 
much  in  that  way  by  connecting  myself  with  the  publica- 
tion aforenamed,  because,  while  traveling  in  its  behalf,  I 
should  accomplish  the  double  object  of  preaching  the  gos- 
pel to  a  greater  number,  and  obtaining  for  that  valuable 
periodical  a  wider  circulation  and  ampler  support.  The 
following  sketch  comprises  the  incidents  of  my  first  tour 
for  that  object. 

I  took  the  boat  for  Beaver  early  in  April;  the  river  was 
up,  and  filled  its  bed  from  bank  to  bank;  to  avoid  the  brunt 
of  the  current  the  boat  plied  closely  along  the  shores.  It 
is  a  pretty  thing  to  be  a  gliding  under  the  very  trees  that 
fringe  the  margin  of  the  river;  in  a  thousand  instances 
one  might  have  stepped  on  shore  without  inconvenience, 
or  have  clung  to  the  extended  limb  of  an  elm  or  a  syca- 
more, or  conversed  with  a  mounted  traveler  going  in  the 
same  direction.  On  no  other  river  in  the  world,  with 
which  I  am  acquainted,  are  the  same  facilities  of  travel 
afforded,  both  on  the  stream  and  the  immediate  shores;  and 
the  spectacle  of  a  boat  stealing  along  amongst  the  foliage 
of  the  banks  is  one  which  is  full  of  beauty  and  romance. 

"  Great  men  are  not  always  wise" — If  we  were  even 
not  told  so  in  holy  writ,  we  should  have  frequent  occa- 
sions of  finding  it  out  for  ourselves.  Among  my  fellow 
passengers  was  Professor  J.,  the  author  of  several  able  and 
popular  productions.  I  had  had  considerable  conversation 
with  an  ingenious  young  man  aboard,  of  the  Presbyterian 
persuasion.  The  Professor,  fearing,  as  would  seem,  that 
in  such  company  my  young  friend's  faith  might  be  endan- 
gered, slipped  into  his  hand  Bishop  Burnett's  Free  Thoughts 
on  Religion.  It  was  opened  at  the  page  where  the  prelate 
has  condescended  to  prove  that  some  people  must  be  end- 
lessly damned.     How  well  he  proves  that  comforting  point, 


176         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

may  be  gathered  from  the  following  synopsis.  "Sin  is 
infinite,  because  committed  against  an  infinite  Being.  An 
infinite  offence  is  deserving  of  infinite  punishment.  Such 
punishment  cannot  be  inflicted  in  this  life.  Consequently,  it 
must  be  perpetuated  to  eternity."  God  help  you,  reader,  if 
you  cannot  see  the  fallacy  of  such  a  corollary!  for  then  has 
nature  gifted  you  with  brains  to  little  purpose.  In  English 
statute  law,  an  offence  against  the  king  is  greater  than  if 
the  same  were  committed  against  the  person  next  to  him 
in  dignity;  and  so,  if  I  mistake  not,  the  scale  of  culpabili- 
ty may  descend  to  the  meanest  subject  in  regular  gradua- 
tion. But  in  common  sense,  which  among  men  is  God/s 
law,  if  I  injure  a  beggar,  in  person,  fame,  or  property,  I 
sin  as  greatly  as  though  I  offended  against  the  greatest 
monarch  on  earth.  But  after  all,  the  injury  intended,  con- 
stitutes the  measure  of  criminality,  rather  than  the  injury 
done,  and  the  capacity  of  the  offender  must  also  be  taken 
into  the  account;  for  who  would  'think  of  holding  a  babe, 
or  an  idiot  accountable?  If,  then,  it  could  be  shown  that 
the  sinner  intended  an  infinite  evil;  and  if,  also,  it  could 
be  shown  that  he  was  capable  of  appreciating  the  evil  in- 
tended, and  had  full  power  both  to  intend  and  to  act  other- 
wise, why  then,  undoubtedly,  his  offence  might  justly  be 
pronounced  an  infinite  one,  and  his  punishment  might  be 
infinite  also,  if  punishment  contemplates  revenge  for  sin 
committed,  rather  than  prevention  of  its  future  commis- 
sion. If  these  premises  are  sound,  how  slender  is  the 
chance  that  infinite  punishment  can  be  justified  to  right 
reason!  But  my  argument  has  not  been  getting  me  on- 
ward to  Beaver. 

My  object  at  Beaver  was  the  establishment  of  the  Star 
in  the  West  there,  as  a  position  more  central  than  Cincin- 
nati, to  the  Universalist  population  of  the  West.*  It  is  a 
point  to  which  access  is  easy  in  all  directions;  healthily 
and  delightfully  situated,  and  happy  should  I  have  been  to 
remove  thither  and  contend  with  the  bigotry  of  that  priest- 
ridden  region.  Ovid  Pinney,  a  wealthy  proprietor  there, 
offered  me  very  liberal  inducements  to  fix  me  at  that  lo- 
cation, but  circumstances  beyond  my  control  decided  other- 
wise.    So  adieu  to  that  project  ! 

Marietta  and  Be.^pre.     Eusebius  Hoagg,  of  the   Pitts- 

*Il  is  far  I'rom  being  so  at  present,  as  the  doctrine  has  n)ore 
spread  southerly   and    westerly  from  that  point,  than  in   opposite 

directions. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  177 

burg  Society,  expressing  a  solicitude  to  devote  himself  to 
the  ministry,  I  visited  Washington  county,  Ohio,  in  order 
to  prepare  a  location  for  him  there.  On  my  arrival  at 
Marietta  I  had  the  happiness  to  find  L.  L.  Saddler  there; 
we  spent  a  day  together  surveying  the  Indian  mounds  and 
other  remains,  which  are  prominent  objects  in  that  vicini- 
ty. He  left  the  next  day  for  Belpre,  fifteen  miles  below, 
where  he  was  engaged  to  spend  the  Sabbath,  and  where  on 
Monday  I  joined  him  and  delivered  a  discourse  in  the  eve- 
ning. I  was  wet  and  very  weary,  having  had  numerous 
fences  to  pull  down,  and  lots  to  cross,  and  ravines  to  get 
over  as  best  I  could,  amid  floods  of  rain  which  soaked  me 
to  the  skin.  We  next  day  rode  in  company  to  Wesley, 
where  each  delivered  a  sermon  in  a  little  church  owned 
in  part  by  our  friends.  Thence  I  proceeded  to  Water- 
town,  where  I  delivered  a  series  of  discourses,  at  which 
the  Presbyterian  clergyman  and  several  of  his  people 
were  present.  We  had  a  lively,  comfortable,  and  reviving 
time  together.  The  Presbyterian  clergyman  is  apparent- 
ly a  very  liberal  man.  June  snow,  they  say,  will  cure 
weak  eyes.  I  should  think  the  sight  of  a  liberal  Presby- 
terian preacher  might  possess  the  same  rare  property,  as 
the  two  circumstances  are  about  equally  common.* 

Grave  Creek,  Virginia.  Having  bought  a  horse  at 
Watertown,  I  commenced  my  journey  up  the  left  bank  of 
the  river,  independent  of  steamboats.  I  confess,  however, 
as  now  and  then  I  was  passed  by  one  of  them,  I  could  not 
but  envy  those  on  board  their  cool  and  comfortable  quar- 
ters, as  well  as  the  rapid  rate  at  which  they  got  along. 
My  road  along  the  river,  had  by  recent  freshets,  been  re- 
duced to  an  almost  impassable  condition;  the  bridges  had 
been  swept  away  from  over  the  numerous  small  creeks  on 
the  route,  and  in  many  places  the  road  had  been  so  ob- 
structed with  heaps  of  flood-wood,  that  I  had  to  cross  wet 
meadows  and  ploughed  fields,  and  pick  my  way  along  the 
declivities  of  the  river  hills,  which  was  not  only  exceed- 
ingly toilsome,  but  dangerous  too  betimes.  Ah  !  Nature, 
thou  grudging  jade  !  thou  never  bestowest  special  favors 
but  thou  exactest  a  pay  in  disadvantages  therefor;  and  so, 
as  the  price  of  a  residence  on  these  lovely  shores,  one 

*  That  clergyman  proved  about  as  liberal  as  others  of  the  same 
school.  He  subsequently  held  two  or  three  discussions  with  one 
and  another  ot  our  preachers  in  that  region,  of  which  he  published 
exparte  and  highly  abusive  reports. 


178         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

must  be  subjected  now  and  then  to  the  annoyance  of  a 
destructive  freshet;  and  agues  must  sometimes  rack  his 
bones;  and  hordes  of  piratical  mosquitoes  m.ust  tap  his 
system,  as  a  sure  preventive  of  its  ever  becoming  gouty 
or  plethoric.     Well,  all  is  right,  I  doubt  not. 

'  There  will  be  briars  where  berries  grow.' 

Grave  Creek  is  twelve  miles  below  Wheeling,  on  the 
Virginia  shore  of  the  river.  It  takes  its  name  from  one 
of  those  remarkable  artificial  mounds  which  abound  in  the 
Mississippi  valley.  This  is  a  noted  one;  it  is  some  sixty 
feet  in  height,  and  covers  nearly  an  acre  of  ground  ;  its 
shape  is  a  parabola,  depressed  at  the  top,  which  is  crowned 
with  several  large  forest  trees.  A  fine  prospect  is  obtain- 
able from  its  summit  over  a  wide  and  level  alluvial  tract 
of  country.  I  preached  some  ten  sermons  in  that  part  of 
Virginia,  and  made  my  home  meanwhile  with  George  N. 
Cox  and  Doctor  Baldwin.  The  former  was  for  many  years 
a  Methodist  minister,  but  is  now  a  preacher  of  salvation  to 
all  m«^n  as  the  gift  of  God;  not  of  works,  lest  any  man 
should  boast. 

The  worship  versus  the  service  of  God.  "  And  pray, 
sir,"  asked  I  of  a  preacher,  as  we  rode  together  up  the  left 
bank  of  the  river,  "  what  mean  you  by  the  service  of 
God] " 

"  I  mean,  sir,"  he  replied,  "  the  praying  to  him,  the 
waiting  upon  him  in  the  ways  of  his  appointment,  the  medi- 
tating on  his  word  and  character,  the  exercising  a  godly 
sorrow  for  sin,  etc.     This,  sir,  is  what  I  call  serving  God." 

"  So  do  not  7,"  was  my  answer,  "  and  hence,  between  us 
there,  an  issue  arises.  To  me  it  seems  that  all  that  you 
have  mentioned  may  be  done  to  the  end  of  one''s  life,  as 
it  has  been  in  all  ages  by  monkish  and  ascetic  men,  and 
yet  God  be  unserved  the  while.  One  may  kneel  before  an 
earthly  potentate,  or,  in  oriental  style,  prostrate  one's  self 
in  the  dust  before  him.  Another  may  never  have  done 
personal  court  to  the  monarch,  nor  bowed  in  his  presence, 
yet  he  has  lived  in  the  habitual  fulfillment  of  his  laws, 
promoting,  by  his  industry,  the  prosperity  of  his  realm, 
and,  by  iiis  virtuous  example,  the  happiness  of  his  fellow 
subjects.  Now,  sir,  one  of  these  jvorships  his  sovereign, 
and  the  other  serves  him:  which  is  the  more  profitable 
subject,  think  you? " 

"  Am  I  to  deduce  from  this  the  conclusion,  that  Univer- 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  179 

salists  repudiate  prayer,  meditation,  and  other  acts  and 
exercises  of  a  merely  devotional  character?" 

"  No  sir;  only  that  of  the  two,  we  think  that  to  serve 
God  is  of  more  importance,  because  of  more  utility,  than 
merely  to  worship  him.  Ah  !  if  the  Great  Father  were 
but  the  hundredth  part  as  well  served^  as  in  one  form  and 
another  he  is  worshipped,  there  would  be  incalculably 
more  virtue  and  happiness  amongst  his  children.  Rightly 
understood,  the  loorship  of  God  is  but  a  means,  of  which 
the  qualifying  of  ourselves  for  his  service  is  the  end.  Not 
for  itself,  then,  but  for  the  end's  sake,  is  the  ivorship  of 
God  to  be  engaged  in  :  whereas,  the  service  of  God  is  de- 
sirable for  its  own  sake;  for  to  serve  God,  is  to  act  for  the 
good  of  mankindP 

•' But,  sir,"  somewhat  tartly  retorted  the  other,  '^  your 
doctrine  being  true;  all  being  destined  for  salvation  ulti- 
mately, however  they  may  have  lived;  of  what  use  is  it 
to  be  at  the  trouble  of  serving  God,  or  worshipping  him 
either?" 

•'  Do  you  imagine,  sir,  that  it  was  a  trouble  to  your  mother 
to  serve  youV 

"Ahem!  I  suppose,  sir,  that  she  may  not  have  so  con- 
sidered it." 

"And  if  God  were  more  loved,  sir,  would  his  service 
seem  so  troublesome?  The  yoke  of  Christ,  sir,  is  easy : 
his  burden  is  light.  And  why?  Because  his  religion  pre- 
sents Jehovah  in  points  of  view  which  show  him  to  be 
lovely;  and  to  serve  a  being  we  love  is  no  hardship.  As 
saith  the  poet, 

'  Love  makes  our  service  liberty, 
Our  every  burden  light.' 

And,  sir,  what  we  do  from  preference,  we  want  no  reward 
for  doing.  Did  your  mother  want  to  be  paid,  or  did  she 
expect  to  gain  heaven,  by  serving  you  1 " 

"Ahem!  It  seems  to  me  that  you  ask  strange  questions, 
sir,  and  institute  strange  comparisons." 

"  Perfectly  natural  questions,  sir,  nevertheless.  As  to 
your  mother,  1  can  answer  at  a  venture,  that  the  only  pay 
she  required  was  the  pleasure  it  afforded  her  to  see  that 
her  service  made  you  happy.  When  you  were  sick,  she 
sacrificed  her  nightly  rest  to  you,  and  thought  it  no  hard- 
ship; she  bore  with  your  petulence,  your  waywardness, 
your  ingraiitude;  for  many  weary  days  and  nights  together 
did  she  this;  and  when  at  length  your  symptoms  indicated 


180        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

an  improvement  in  your  state,  she  blessed  God  that  in 
your  restoration  to  health  she  was  about  to  be  amply  com- 
pensated for  all  her  toils  and  sufferings  on  your  behalf. 
Love,  sir,  is  the  essential  thing  required  to  make  duty  a 
pleasure;  and  if  professed  christians  more  truly  possessed 
it,  they  would  not,  methinks,  so  regulate  their  service  of 
God,  as  it  would  seem  they  do,  by  the  chances  of  their 
getting  paid  for  it  after  their  death.  They  would  find 
their  pay  in  it;  while  they  live;  during  its  performance. 
The  '  doer  of  the  work,'  James  says,  '  is  blessed  in  his 
deed;'  and  says  David,  ^  In  keeping  thy  commandments 
there  is  great  reward.' "" 

The  widow  Ratcliff  had  given  our  friends  at  Grave  Creek 
an  acre  of  ground  for  a  church-site  and  burial-place.  She 
is  in  her  eighty-fifth  year,  and  the  faculties  of  her  mind 
are  yet  unclouded.  For  sixty-three  years  she  has  resided 
on  those  Ohio  shores;  and  in  all  probability,  she  was  the 
first  white  woman  who  was  ever  a  resident  in  that  valley, 
from  Wheeling  to  the  Mexican  gulf.  She  and  her  hus- 
band were  compelled  by  the  Indians  to  fly  their  home  a 
year  or  so  after  their  first  arrival;  all  they  had  was  aban- 
doned in  the  haste  of  their  flight.  While  1  was  at  Mari- 
etta, she  was  on  a  visit  to  her  son  on  the  opposite  shore, 
and  she  hobbled  out  on  two  Sabbath's  to  hear  me  preach; 
expressing  great  satisfaction  that  she  had  once  more  en- 
joyed such  an  opportunity  before  she  went  hence.* 

*  Being,  sometime  subsequent,  at  the  house  of  General  Baldwin, 
of  Edwardsville,  Ohio,  he  related  an  interesting  circumstance  con- 
cerning  the  same  excellent  woman,  which  is  highly  creditable  to 
her  generosity  and  patriotism. 

The  General  had  belonged  to  the  army  which  was  engaged  in 
fighting  the  British  on  the  Canadian  frontier,  and  after  the  toils  of 
the  campaign,  was  returning  to  his  native  home  in  Virginia.  His 
weary  journey  was  nearly  completed  on  his  reaching  the  Flats  of 
Grave  Creek,  where  Mrs.  Tomlinson  kept  an  Inn,  at  which  he  and 
five  of  his  military  comrades  stopped,  and  bespoke  supper  and  quar- 
ters for  the  night.  Alter  supper  the  travelers  were  prejniring  to  sleep 
on  the  floor,  in  camp  fashion,  each  with  his  blanket  wrapt  around 
him  and  his  knapsack  for  a  pillow;  but  their  kind  hostess  would 
not  allow  that;  she  had  a  good  clean  bed  for  each  ot  them,  she  said; 
and.  despite  their  remonstrances,  (for  thev  had  become  accustomed 
to  the  hard  mode  of  sleeping  1  have  described)  they  were  prevailed 
on  to  occupy  them.  In  the  n^orning  she  again  kindly  opposed  her 
will  to  theirs.  They  would  have  started  away  without  breaking  their 
fast,  but  she  insisted  on  their  having  a  good  warm  brerikfast,  and 
when,  after  this  was  finished,  they  inquired  what  they  had  to  pay. 
'"'■  Pay  P''  said  she,  with  noble  disd^dn,  '■'■  If  I  could  not  erdcrtain  those 
ivho  have  been  /ig/itingfor  my  count  y,  without  taking  their  money  for 
iti  I  should  think  myself  unworthy  of  the  country  I  live  in  .'" 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  181 

Journey  homeward.  The  direct  road  from  Pittsburg  to 
Steubenville  is  through  a  highly  cultivated,  undulating, 
limestone  country  ;  and  bearing,  as  limestone  countries 
are  apt  to  do,  a  most  beautifully  varied  forest.  I  was  not 
aware  that  that  portion  of  Pennsylvania  is  so  charming. 
The  same  kind  of  country  continues,  only  more  broken 
and  less  cultivated,  between  Steubenville  and  Coshocton, 
a  distance  of  fifty  miles.  In  the  latter  tract,  however,  the 
hilly  monotony  is  agreeably  interrupted  by  the  broad  and 
fertile  vales  of  the  Tuscarawas  and  White  Woman,  which 
together  form  the  Muskingum.  In  prosecuting  my  way  to 
Mount  Vernon,  in  a  due  westerly  direction,  I  had  to  cross 
those  streams  some  eight  or  ten  times,  by  broad,  deep,  and 
rapid  fords;  yet  not  difficult,  by  reason  of  their  firm  gra- 
velly bottoms  and^uniformity  of  depth.  But  woe  to  the 
traveler  that  is  caught  among  them  in  a  time  of  freshets. 

My  first  acquaintance  with  western  mud-holes. 
Hitherto  I  had  suffered  much  in  my  journey  from  drought, 
and  its  concomitant,  dust;  but  now  came  on  the  rain,  rain, 
rain;  and  it  kept  at  it  until  I  began  to  apprehend  a  second 
edition  of  Noah's  flood.  For  full  three  weeks  did  the  rain 
pour  almost  unceasingly  down.  Meantime  I  was  safely 
harbored  at  Columbus,  the  State  capitol.  I  was  lodging  at 
the  stage  hotel,  and  I  noticed  that  not  only  did  the  coaches 
come  in  bespattered  to  the  very  roof;  but  the  passengers, 
also,  appeared  as  if  they  had  been  undergoing  christian 
baptism  in  a  way-side  ditch,  or  some  such  thing.  They, 
many  of  them,  forewarned  me  of  the  difficulty  I  should 
find  in  getting  to  Cincinnati  in  a  light  vehicle;  but  for  my 
part,  I  could  not  conceive  of  a  state  of  roads  in  which  a 
large  horse,  as  mine  was,  could  find  it  difficult  to  draw  a 
gmall  man  in  a  light  buggy.  So  I  set  it  all  down  for  what 
an  Englishman  would  call  gammon. 

Well,  at  the  time  appointed  I  left  Columbus  for  my 
home  in  Cincinnati;  for  six  miles  of  the  way  the  road  was 
McAdamised.  As  1  bowled  over  it  I  thought  what  a  wicked 
thing  slander  is;  and  how  prone  man  is  to  indulge  in  that 
heinous  offence !  "  Now  here,  for  instance,  is  a  road  fit 
for  the  state-carriage  of  an  emperor  to  roll  on;  firm, 
smooth,  delightful;  yet  people  are  to  be  found  who  are 
wicked  enough  to  call  it  muddy!  Such  folks  ought — but 
stop — what's  all  this?  Well,  as  I  live,  if  somebody  has'nt 
been  digging  a  great  hole  right  in  the  public  road,  and 
have  put  nothing  up  to  guard  the  traveler  from  driving 


182        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

into  it!  Woa,  there!  woa  Jack!  Why  the  brute  is  stuck 
fast!  Up  now!  up  fellow!"  But  there  was  no  getting  up 
for  poor  Jack;  and  I  had  to  jump  out,  up  to  my  knees  in 
the  puddle,  and  hold  his  head  up  to  prevent  him  from  being 
strangled.  My  next  resource  was  to  hallo  for  help,  and 
well  was  it  for  me  that  a  tavern  was  in  sight,  for  otherwise 
I  should  assuredly  have  lost  my  horse.  As  it  was,  it  took 
two  strong  men  to  get  him  up,  and  my  carriage  was  stuck 
so  fast  that  it  could  only  be  drawn  out  backwards  by  hitch- 
ing oxen  to  the  hindmost  axletree.  So  much  for  my  first 
experience  of  western  mud-holes;  and  to  pick  a  way  home- 
ward amongst  them  I  found  to  be  a  task  that  brought  all 
my  small  skill  as  a  driver  into  requisition.  I  have  had 
occasion  to  know,  since  then,  that  holes  can  exist  in  west- 
ern roads  big  enough  to  engulph  horse,  buggy  and  driver, 
without  any  body''s  being  put  to  the  trouble  of  digging 
them. 

On  my  return  to  Cincinnati,  I  found  that  discords  and 
misunderstandings  had  arisen  in  the  society,  wherj,  at  the 
time  of  my  leaving,  all  had  been  unity  and  concord.  How 
this  turn  in  affairs  was  brought  about  it  were  a  long  task 
to  tell,  and  withal,  not  a  very  agreeable  one.  But,  oh 
me!  I  had  anguish  of  heart  in  those  days. 

One  may  learn  much  in  the  school  of  suffering,  how- 
ever, if  he  is  but  an  apt  scholar;  and  I,  much  as  I  had 
aforetime  suffered,  yet  needed  much  experimental  teach- 
ing to  make  me  practically  wise.  Well,  I  learned  during 
that  ordeal,  that  the  world  will  sooner  forgive  anything  in 
a  man  than  the  crime  of  poverty.  That,  though  that  pov- 
erty shall  have  been  induced  by  a  self-sacrificing  devotion 
to  the  public  good;  though  it  shall  be  associated  with  an 
honest  disdain  of  all  that  is  mean  and  unmanly  in  ihe  policy 
of  money-getting;  though  it  shall  not  have  bowed  the  soul 
to  the  servility  of  cringing  for  pecuniary  favors;  still,  in 
the  worWs  common-place  book,  a  mark  of  discredit  is  af- 
fixed to  the  name  of  a  man,  who,  having  had  opportunities 
of  acquiring  wealth,  no  matter  how,  has  failed  to  use  them 
to  that  first  and  greatest  of  human  ends. 

I  had  sold  my  horse  to  pay  for  the  supply  of  my  desk 
in  my  absence.  The  hundred  dollars  in  money  with  v/hich 
I  had  left  Pennsylvania,  were  gone.  I  had  even  parted 
with  my  books  to  enable  me  to  pay  my  current  family  ex- 
penses; and  the  birth  of  a  second  child  occuring  at  that 
juncture,  our  straitened  circumstances  bore  with  severe 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER  183 

pressure  upon  us.  Our  chaise,  somewhat  the  worse  for 
wear,  was  left  us,  and  that  was  all  that  was  left.  I  had 
resigned  the  pastoral  care  of  the  society;  for,  with  the 
church-property  to  pay  for,  they  were  utterly  unable  to 
pay  my  salary;  and  1  was  as  utterly  unable  to  subsist 
without  it. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

His  prospects  begin  to  brighten — Visits  Yankee  Town,  has  a  nar- 
row escape  from  death,  there — Sets  out  on  a  journey  in  Ken- 
tucky, Tennessee,  Mississippi,  and  Alabama. 

In  August  of  that  year,  (1836,)  occurred  the  meeting 
of  the  Miami  Association,  at  Amelia,  twenty-two  miles 
from  Cincinnati.  During  the  day  the  preaching  was  done 
in  the  woods,  and  at  night  in  the  Union  Meeting  House, 
The  assemblage  present  was  large,  perhaps  numbering 
two  thousand  persons.  Many  were  present  from  distances 
of  fifty  or  sixty  miles,  and  many,  also,  who  were  zealous 
and  strong  men  in  our  Israel.  There  were  Jacob  Felter, 
now  in  Heaven;  Benjamin  Baldwin,  C.  S.  W  ebber,  now 
actively  engaged  in  the  ministry;  John  Mitchell,  Dr. 
Dalton,  and  others,  with  whom  my  acquaintance  then 
commenced,  and  with  whom  it  has  continued,  with  in- 
creasing strength,  to  the  present  time. 

From  the  time  of  that  meeting  the  clouds  began  to 
clear  away  from  my  sky,  and  sunshine  once  more  to 
brighten  the  landscape  of  my  prospects  ;  the  numerous 
country  acquaintances  I  formed,  gave  rise  to  calls  for  my 
professional  services  from  various  quarters,  which  to  com- 
ply with,  in  addition  to  my  editorial  engagements,  kept 
me  busy  enough.  It  was  my  fault  that  I  was  prone  to 
overstrain  in  exertions  to  do  all  that  I  deemed  needful  to 
be  done;  and  to  most  violent  shocks  have  I  thus  subject- 
ed my  frail  earthly  tabernacle,  from  which  it  is  a  mercy 
that  it  ever  recovered — if,  indeed,  it  really  has  so.  Once, 
for  example,  having  an  appointment  for  a  Saturday  eve- 
ning, and  Sunday,  at  Yankee  Town,  about  thirty-six  miles 
north  of  Cincinnati,  and  being  without  a  horse,  or  means 
to  hire  one,  I  sat  off  on  foot  as  far  as  Mount  Pleasant,  nine 
miles,   with  the    purpose  of  borrowing  a  horse   there,  of 


184        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

my  friend  Robert  Carey,  with  which  to  perform  the  resi- 
due of  the  journey.  I  had  only  reached  home  from  an 
excursion  in  another  direction,  about  nine  o'clock  the 
evening  before,  and  had  kept  up  all  night  to  avoid  over- 
sleeping, as  I  found  that,  to  accomplish  the  day's  work  in 
time,  I  must  set  out  as  early  as  three  in  the  morning. 
The  walk  to  Mount  Pleasant,  over  the  then  rough  ( it  is 
now  McAdamised,)  and  hard-frozen  road,  exhausted  me 
so  much,  that  when  I  reached  Mr.  Carey's,  1  was  under  the 
necessity  of  lying  down  for  an  hour  or  two;  and  to  make 
up  for  the  time  thus  lost,  I  had  to  ride  from  thence  at  a 
brisk  trot.  The  wind  blew  directly  in  my  face  the  whole 
day,  and  towards  evening  it  brought  a  snow  with  it  which 
almost  blinded  me.  When  I  alighted  at  Yankee  Town,  1 
could  scarcely  stand,  my  jaws  went  together  from  mere 
nervous  excitement,  as  if  i  had  had  a  violent  ague;  I  spit 
blood,  and  had  a  copious  hemorrhage  of  the  bowels.  Never- 
theless I  preached  that  night  to  a  large  audience,  which 
was  greatly  increased  on  the  morrow — for  as  our  faith 
had  never  before  been  proclaimed  there,  persons  of  vari- 
ous faiths  turned  out  from  curiosity.  On  Sunday  eve- 
ning they  did  the  same  again;  but,  by  then,  I  had  com- 
pletely lost  my  voice,  which  had  been  failing  from  the 
first.  I  had  notified  them  in  the  morning  that  I  was  doubt- 
ful whether  I  should  be  able  to  preach  in  the  evening, 
and  for  that  reason  I  considerably  lengthened  my  morning 
sermon.  Nevertheless  when  they  found  that  my  fears  as 
to  my  voice  were  realized,  there  were  many  who  reported 
that  the  Lord  had  struck  me  dumb  in  answer  to  prayer! 
As  if  the  Almighty  could  employ  himself  no  better  than  in 
making  an  insignificant  little  preacher  hoarse,  at  the  in- 
stance of  some  silly  saints  in  Yankee  Town! 

On  that  same  Sunday  night  I  run  an  exceedingly  nar- 
row chance  of  being  killed  by  the  kindness  of  a  friend. 
I  lodged  with  a  Mr.  M.  When  he  conducted  me  to  my 
chamber,  which  was  little  more  than  large  enough  to  con- 
tain a  bed,  and  was  without  a  fire-place,  I  inquired  of  him 
from  whence  the  carbonic  acid  gas  which  I  smelt  pro- 
ceeded. He  did  not  even  know  what  such  gas  was.  "  Per- 
haps," said  he,  "  you  smell  the  charcoal  at  the  other  side 
of  your  bed.  We  thought,  as  you  were  unwell,  it  would  be 
better  to  warm  your  room  a  little."  "My  dear  sir!"  I 
exclaimed,  "  is  it  possible  that  you  have  not  learned  of 
the  dangerons  nature  of  the  gas  that  escapes  from  burn- 


OF   A   UNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  185' 

ing  charcoal  ?  Why — had  I  gone  to  bed  with-out  detecting 
its  presence  in  the  room,  in  less  than  an  hour,  in  my  pre- 
sent susceptible  state,  I  should  have  been  a  corpse!"  Mr. 
M.,  however,  was  wholly  uninformed  in  relation  to  that 
matter,  notwithstanding  the  many  newspaper  cautions 
which  have  been  given  about  it,  and  the  many  recorded 
cases  of  death  produced  by  that  means. 

I  returned  from  Yankee  Town  to  Mount  Pleasant, 
where,  at  the  hospitable  dwelling  of  Peter  Laberteau, 
1  always  could  be  assured  of  finding  a  resting-place, 
to  which  the  weary  preacher  was  ever  welcome.  I  had 
appointed  to  preach  there  on  my  return,  and  I  did  so, 
in  whispers,  as  best  I  could.  Of  Mr.  Carey  I  bought  the 
horse  I  had  borrov/ed,  on  the  condition  that  on  my  return 
in  the  spring  from  the  South,  which  I  was  about  to  visit 
for  the  first  time,  I  would  pay  him  therefor  in  accordance 
with  the  price  I  should  get  for  him  in  that  market.  Had 
the  poor  brute  foreseen  the  hard  experience  to  which  he 
was  destined  in  my  keeping,  he  would  have  demurred  at 
the  change  of  masters,  methinks. 

December  3,  1836.  I  mounted  my  horse  for  my 
southern  journey  in  tolerable  spirits,  although  suffering 
under  a  severe  cold,  with  hoarseness.  I  had  an  appoint- 
ment for  the  same  evening,  at  Patriot,  Indiana.  Distance 
through  Kentucky  about  thirty  miles.  Was  surprised  to 
nnd  such  indifferent  buildings,  and  so  few  embellishments 
of  any  kind  on  the  Cincinnati  and  Lexington  turnpike. 
1  had  expected  to  find  it  studded  with  elegant  seats; 
certainly  no  extravagant  expectation  in  regard  to  a  stage 
route  between  two  such  towns;  and  especially  on  that 
part  of  the  route  lying  adjacent  to  the  former  city  and  the 
Ohio  river;  for,  leaving  Cincinnati  out  of  the  question, 
the  two  towns  of  Newport  and  Covington,  the  latter  quite 
a  manufacturing  place — would  warrant  the  expectation  of 
finding  some  highly  improved  seats  amongst  the  neighbor 
ing  hills;  and  on  the  Ohio  side  such  would  not  fail  to  be 
the  case. 

Found  our  Patriot  friends  in  good  cheer  :  the  cause 
amongst  them  going  forward  :  of  the  ^e\Y  Methodists  left, 
three  are  applicants  for  letters  of  dismissal,  with  a  view 
to  unite  with  the  Universalist  society.  Found  myself 
rather  awkwardly  situated  while  standing  before  the  con- 
gregation, without  the  ability  to  raise  my  voice  above  a 
whisper,  and  knowing  too  that  the  people  had  come  to- 
13 


186        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

gether  with  high  expectations.  Put  it  to  vote  whether 
preaching  should  be  dispensed  with — not  a  single  voice  in 
the  affirmative;  I  therefore  croaked  out  a  sermon  as  best  I 
could.  Stayed  in  Patriot  three  days,  preaching  four  dis- 
courses in  the  time,  and  visiting  several  friends,  amongst 
them  Mrs.  McH. —  not  yet  lopped  off  from  the  Meth- 
odist church — who  was  confined  to  her  bed  by  a  sudden 
attack  of  disease,  which  had  brought  her  very  near  to  the 
grave,  in  which  crisis  she  had  sent  for  some  Methodist 
neighbors,  that  they  might  witness  her  willingness  to 
die  in  her  newly  adopted  faith,  that  Christ  is  a  universal 
Savior.  'Twas  a  right  feeling  which  led  the  poet  to  ex- 
claim— 

"  Oh  that  the  world  might  taste  and  see, 
The  riclies  of  his  grace: 
The  arms  of  love  which  compass  me, 
Would  all  mankind  embrace.'" 

Dec.  7.  Left  Patriot,  for  Jacksonville,  Indiana;  dis- 
tant sixteen  miles,  inland.  The  intervening  country  is 
pleasant,  gently  rolling,  and  well  cultivated.  An  appoint- 
ment was  soon  circulated  for  a  meeting  that  evening, 
which  was  well  attended. 

Dec.  8.  Rode  to  Madison,  twenty-four  miles :  arrived 
there  between  three  and  four  o'clock  ;  called  on  the  agent 
for  the  Sentinel,  Mr.  Watlington,  by  whose  active  co-ope- 
ration I  was  enabled  to  get  up  a  meeting  in  the  Court- 
House  that  evening,  a  bell-man  having  been  employed  to 
cry  the  appointment  through  the  town.  Madison  is  a 
brisk  and  rapidly  growing  place,  handsomely  situated  on 
the  river :  present  population  four  thousand.  Lectured 
there  two  evenings,  to  pretty  good  congregations;  nothing 
short  of  a  good  degree  of  anxiety  to  hear  the  gospel 
would  have  induced  those  to  attend  who  composed  my 
audience  on  that  evening.  I  have  hopes  of  Madison, 
ardent  hopes;  it  is  a  moral  and  religious  place  ;  and  in 
such  a  place  I  can  operate  with  pleasure  and  hope;  but 
save  me  from  places  which  are  characterized  by  an  infidel 
indifference  to  all  religion!  Too  many  such  on  these  wes- 
tern, waters.  I  believe  I  entered  every  store  and  shop  in 
Madison,  soliciting  subscriptions  for  the  Sentinel  :  it 
wou  d  amuse  the  reader  were  I  to  report  many  of  the 
ans  wers  I  obtained.  •'  Where  is  it  published  ? '"  inquired 
one-     "  At  Cincinnati,"  I  replied,     "Thank  God  it  is  so 


OF   A   T7NIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  187 


far  off,"  he  rejoined.  "  Subscribe  to  a  Universalist  pa- 
perl"  exclaimed  a  second  :  "  I  would  subscribe  to  have  it 
it  burnt."  "The  deuce!"  rather  angrily  responded 
another — "  Think  I'll  support  a  paper  that  I  know  to  be 
lies  from  eend  to  eend."  etc.,  etc. 

Dec.  14,  No  farther  yet  than  Louisville!  Preached 
■on  my  way  here  from  Madison,  at  Lexington,  Indiana,  to 
a  small  audience,  convened  on  very  short  notice.  The 
inn-keeper  with  whom  I  stayed,  a  Mr.  English,  generously 
refused  the  pay  for  my  entertainment.  Traveled  next 
<iay  thirty  miles,  through  a  country  but  little  improved, 
and  swampy  ;  roads  most  execrable,  literally  wallowing  in 
mire.  Passed  through  Charleston,  capitol  of  Clark  coun- 
ty, which  is  a  smart  village,  and  arrived  at  Jeffersonville, 
(over  against  the  city,)  after  dark,  and  put  up  for  the 
night.  I  preached  in  Louisville  two  evenings  to  tolerable 
congregations,  considering  that  the  place  of  meeting  is  an 
upstairs  suit  of  rooms  in  a  private  house,  and  the  notice 
had  but  a  limited  spread. 

Amongst  my  hearers  was  a  French  Catholic  lady,  of 
very  respectable  appearance:  she  seemed  much  affected 
by  the  preaching,  more  especially  on  the  last  evening, 
when  she  sobbed  audibly,  apparently  unable  to  repress 
her  feelings.  "  Me  tank  you  very  much,"  said  she,  on 
taking  leave  of  me  after  meeting;  "Me  a  broken-hearted 
woman:  your  talk  do  me  much  good  hereP  laying  her  hand 
on  her  heart;  "many  tanks,  monsieur."  She  seemed  much 
opposed  to  our  paying  for  the  rooms,  and,  as  she  occupied 
them  as  a  boarder,  she  judged  that  slie^  rather  than  the 
host,  had  a  right  to  the  pay  for  them,  which  she  was  quite 
anxious  to  dispense  with  in  my  favor,  declaring  that  the 
preaching  was  better  than  the  money  to  her.  Oh!  that 
professed  ministers  of  Christ  would  but  understand  prac- 
tically the  objects  of  the  mission  entrusted  to  them  !  "The 
spirit  of  the  Lord  God  is  upon  me,"  said  the  benevolent 
•Jesus,  "because  he  hath  annointed  me  to  preach  glad 
tidings  to  the  meek,  to  open  the  prison  doors,  and  to  set 
the  captive  free,  to  bind  the  broken  heart,"  etc. 

Dec,  15.  Left  Louisville,  and  traveled  twenty-two 
miles,  which  employed  me  all  day,  busily  enough;  the 
roads  were  a  continuous  wallow,  to  the  mouth  of  Salt 
River.  This  is  the  dreaded  stream  up  which  all  unfortu- 
nate wights  who  run  for  public  office,  must  take  the 
hazzard  of  being  rowed. 


JSff  EXPERIENCE,    LABORS,    AND    TRAVELS 

Dec. 16.  Mud  again  to-day,  with  the  comfortable  ad- 
dition of  a  cold  drenching  rain  :  made  a  distance  of  twen- 
ty miles;  and  did  not  put  up  till  between  eight  and  nine 
o'clock  in  the  night.  Was  glad  enough  to  find  quarters, 
after  being  lost  in  the  barrens  amongst  roads  that  could 
not  be  distmguished  by  the  stranger :  they  branch  off  in 
all  directions  to  the  various  plantations  through  the  coun- 
try, which  are  hidden  from  view  by  intervening  patches 
of  sterile  woodland.  I  had  applied  in  vain  for  entertain- 
ment through  the  night  at  several  of  these.  The  wind 
blew  a  tempest,  with  alternate  dashes  of  sleet  and  snow 
directly  in  my  face  :  no  houses  to  be  seen;  for  the  wretch- 
ed log  hovels  are  destitute  of  windows,  and  no  light  from 
fire  or  candle  within  gleams  from  them  to  cheer  the  be- 
nighted wayfarer.  Knew  not  what  would  become  of  my 
mother's  son  that  night;  wet  to  the  skin,  benumbed  with 
cold,  in  a  country  without  inns,  and  presenting  to  the 
eye  of  the  stranger  the  aspect  of  an  extended  scrub-oak 
waste.  I  had  heard  much  of  Southern  hospitality,  but 
experienced  that  the  Kentucky  barrens  are  not  precisely 
the  place  where  it  is  to  be  had.  Having  at  length  found 
quarters,  I  went  supperless  to  bed — I  had  eaten  nothing 
since  morning — but  not  until  I  had  very  gravely  officiated 
as  a  physician  to  a  sick  servant — that  term  denotes  a  slaver 
in  this  region.  Not  Dr.  Sangrado  himself  ever  discharged' 
his  functions  with  more  solemnity  than  I  on  that  evening. 
My  patient  was  well  next  morning.  Poor  fellow  !  f 
strongly  suspect  he  was  playing  Opossum,  in  order  to  shift 
the  chores  into  the  hand's  of  his  fellow  negroes  during  the 
stormy  season. 

Dec.  17.  The  mud  to-day  frozen  to  pointed  hubs, 
and  coated  with  ice;  the  roads  in  a  wretched  state  for 
traveling,  beyond  the  power  of  pen  to  portray.  Made' 
sixteen  miles,  and  reached  Hardinsburg,  county  seat  of 
Brackenridge  county.  Put  up  at  an  inn  kept  by  a  widow 
Houston,  in  her  sixty-fourth  year,  who  surprised  me  by 
her  mental  energy  and  apparent  youth:  she  has  all  her 
teeth  in  a  sound  state;  reads  and  writes  without  glasses. 
She  is  her  own  accountant:  I  had  hardly  been  seated  before 
she  commenced  giving  me  a  lesson  on  horse  treatment, 
which  convinced  me  that  her  observations  in  that  depart- 
ment had  been  surprisingly  extensive  and  accurate.  Never 
was  better  pleased  with  a  hostess;  she  assumes  for  the 
time   being  the   relation  of  mother  to  her  guests j  they 


OF    A    UNIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  1^ 

scarcely  can  express  a  wish  ere  the  bell  summons  a 
servant  to  do  their  bidding.  After  leaving  the  place,  I  was 
informed  that  she  is — wliom  think  you,  reader?  none  less 
than  the  mother  of  the  Texian-general,  Houston,  and  sis- 
ter to  General  Allen  who  was  killed  at  the  River  Raisin. 
I  did  not  attempt  to  get  up  a  meeting  at  Hardinsburg;  it 
is  a  small  place;  the  people  in  the  adjacent  country  are 
very  illiterate  and  superstitious,  and,  I  suspect,  not  im- 
maculately pious  or  moral.  As  the  widow  could  not  direct 
me  to  Smithland,  I  stepped  into  the  other  tavern  to  make 
inquiries,  and  found  that  several  of  the  villagers  were 
assembled  there,  indulging  in  a  regular  debauch — it  being 
Sabbath  morning  too.  One  was  reciting  a  Methodist  hymn 
as  I  entered — the  Methodist  is  the  sole  society  of  the 
town — 

•^Thee  we  adore,  Eternal  name, 

And  humbly  own  to  thee, 
How  feeble  is  our  mortal  frame; 

What  dying  wonns  we  be!  " 

Another,  with  much  apparent  sincerity,  was  going  through 
the  cant  of  a  class-meeting  confession.  I  say  not  that  this 
is  the  practical  fruit  of  Methodism;  but  it  is  easy  divining 
what  would  be  said  of  such  a  state  of  things  if  found  to 
exist  where  Universalism  was  equally  rife. 

I  was  informed  in  these  parts  of  a  new  sect  in  religion, 
viz.  the  Live- for  overs.  A  lady  told  me  that  one  of  the 
preachers  of  that  order  was  in  the  habit  of  quartering  at 
her  house  in  his  rounds.  He  was  very  severely  afflicted 
with  scrofula,  and  on  her  inquiring  the  cause,  he  very 
seriously  informed  her  that  he  was  merely  undergoing  the 
process  by  which  his  youth  was  to  be  renewed.  "When  this 
IS  over,"  said  he,  '•  my  skin  will  be  as  fresh  as  an  infant's; 
my  gray  hairs  will  be  displaced  by  those  of  a  youthful 
quality;  and  I  shall  be  in  all  respects  renewed."  But  alas! 
when  she  next  saw  him,  he  informed  her  that,  through  an 
unfortunate  lack  of  faith,  he  had  failed  to  realize  the  hoped 
for  metamorphosis!  Simple  fellow!  to  have  lost  the  prize 
of  a  terrestrial  immortality  through  a  mere  want  of  faith, 
when  a  lumpish  saint  of  his  easy  credulity  might  as  easily 
have  believed  in  one  thing  as  another! 

On  the  night  of  Sunday,  the  18th,  I  put  up  with  an  aged 
couple,  whose  situation  I  may  as  well  describe,  as  the  pic- 
ture will  answer  equally  well  for  a  majority  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  these    parts.      Their  residence  is  a  double  log 


190'         EXPERIENCF,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

cabin,  with  but  a  solitary  window,  and  that  consisting  of 
four  panes  of  glass;  just  four  panes  more  than  are  found 
in  most  of  the  cabin  windows  of  the  country,  by  the  way. 
The  door  must  stand  wide  open  in  all  weathers  to  admit  the 
light.  Their  whole  furniture,  bedding  excepted,  would 
bring  about  five  dollars,  possihiy  ten,  at  a  vendue  sale  in. 
Cincinnati.  You  may  easily  distinguish  between  the  house 
and  the  stable,  as  something  like  a  chimney  may  be  de- 
tected at  one  end  and  on  the  outside  of  the  former.  The 
servants^  quarters  can  be  known  only  by  their  being  small- 
er; and,  perhaps,  in  lieu  of  the  four  panes  of  glass,  a  dirty 
rag  may  be  seen  hanging  over  the  aperture.  The  old 
couple  referred  to,  professed  to  own  between  three  and 
four  hundred  of  barren  acres,  with  scarcely  fifty  cleared, 
and  they  were  partly  a  marsh;  and  yet  they  owned  four- 
teen servants,  little  and  big!  They  complained  of  pover- 
ty, and  no  wonder,  with  such  a  profitless  stock  upon  their 
hands.  They  were  a  kind  couple,  and  spoke  of  their 
negroes  with  tenderness.  "  Poor  toads,"  the  old  woman 
exclaimed,  "  they  have  souls  to  be  saved  as  well  as  the 
whites."  In  truth,  I  must  affirm,  that  up  to  this  date,  I 
have  seen  nothing  in  the  conduct  of  the  whites  towards 
slaves  which  savored  of  harshness. 

Dec.  19.  Arrived,  between  one  and  two  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  at  Hartford,  seat  of  justice  for  Ohio  county. 
Called  at  the  public"'house  for  dinner,  intending  to  proceed 
about  ten  miles  further,  ere  I  put  up  for  the  night.  While 
I  was  engaged  with  my  meal,  I  mentioned  to  the  hostess 
that  I  was  a  Universalist  preacher.  "  Do  you  intend  giv- 
ing us  a  sermon?"  she  inquired.  I  answered  in  the  nega- 
tive. "  I  never  heard  a  sermon  of  the  kind,  but  I  am 
inclined  to  think  it  is  my  belief.  I  would  be  glad  to  hear 
it  preached."  Well,  madam,  if  a  suitable  place  can  be 
obtained,  and  a  notice  issued,  I  am  willing  to  deliver  my 
message.  "Well,"  said  she,  after  a  little  reflection,  "it  is 
a  very  busy  season  with  us,  but  still,  I  am  willing  to  be  at 
the  expense  of  having  our  dining-room  cleaned  for  the 
sake  of  a  meeting."  Accordingly,  requesting  me  to  write 
a  notice,  she  gave  it  to  a  boy,  with  the  direction  to  read 
it  to  every  family  in  the  town. 

We  had  a  full  meeting,  crowded  indeed;  made  up  of  all 
kinds,  a  circuit  preacher  with  the  rest;  great  attention 
was  given,  to  a  sermon  of  two  hours  length;  after  it  was 
over,  I  was  strongly  solicited,  by  several  persons,  to  tarry 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER  191 

and  lecture  the  next  evening :  I  consented ;  but  owing  to 
the  rain  which  fell  all  day  long  in  tempestuous  torrents,  a 
meeting  could  not  beholden;  but  it  will  take  place  this 
evening,  (  20th )  for  they  will  not  consent  to  my  going 
without  another  discourse;  meanwhile  they  are  kindly  en- 
tertaining myself  and  somewhat  jaded  horse.  The  roads 
too,  are  completely  flooded;  so  that  I  could  not  proceed 
on  my  journey,  if  I  would.  Indeed,  I  am  seriously  puzzled 
to  know  how  I  am  to  get  from  this  place  in  any  direction. 
The  country  to  a  wide  extent  is  an  extended  flat,  abound- 
ing in  morass,  with  numerous  streams,  without  bridges, 
which  now  are  very  full.  A  worse  state  of  traveling  can- 
not be  conceived;  the  surface  of  the  roads  and  streams 
are  frozen,  but  not  sufficiently  to  bear  a  horse.  Heigh-ho, 
if  I  get  out  of  this  dilemma,  I  can  retrospectively  tell  you 
how;  hni prospectively,  my  wits  are  sadly  at  a  loss.  I  now 
experience  that  so  long  a  journey  on  horseback,  at  this 
time  of  the  year,  is  a  serious  affair;  but,  having  been 
undertaken,  it  must  be  gone  through  with. 


O  the  woods!  the  interminable  woods!  and  the  ponds 
and  marshes,  and  flooded  flats,  in  which  the  road  is  per- 
petually losing  itself,  to  the  infinite  bewilderment  of  the 
traveler;  and  which,  at  this  season,  being  crusted  over 
with  ice  of  scarcely  sufficient  thickness  to  bear  a  horse, 
lacerate  his  legs  most  cruelly.  1  promised  in  my  last,  that 
if  I  should  succeed  in  escaping  from  where  I  then  was,  I 
would  inform  you  lioio;  but,  now  that  the  fulfillment  of  that 
promise  is  due,  I  find  it  no  easy  task;  my  descriptive  pow- 
ers are  scarcely  equal  to  it.  I  had  had  some  experience 
in  travel.  I  had  climbed  mountains,  and  penetrated  into 
deep  forests — and  picked  my  way  amongst  mud  and  rocks; 
and  had  rode  for  miles,  with  hair  erect,  along  the  brinks 
of  precipices;  and  forded  streams  of  dangerous  depth  and 
current;  and  groped  my  way  benighted  through  regions 
desolate,  and  infested  with  wild  beasts;  and  had  more  than 
once  made  the  cold  and  damp  ground  of  the  wilderness 
my  bed;  and  I  had  also  braved  the  snows,  and  piercing 
winds,  and  dangerous  drifts  of  the  north;  but  nothing  in 
my  former  experience  had  prepared  me  for  the  hardships 
I  had  to  encounter  within  the  past  two  weeks.  These  were 
difficulties  of  a  new  kind,  and  of  a  kind  which  acted  more 
discouragingly  upon  my  feelings  than  those  I  had  ever 
formerly  encountered.     But  away  with  croaking. 


192         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

Dec.  22.  Left  Hartford,  and  in  about  nine  hours 
travel,  made  just  fifteen  miles.  At  night  I  found  the  road 
1  was  pursuing  terminated  abruptly  at  a  set  of  bars;  these, 
of  course,  I  opened,  and  applied  at  the  house  to  which  they 
conducted,  for  quarters  during  the  night.  I  was  informed 
that  I  had  mistaken  my  way,  but  had  taken  the  plainest 
road,  and  that  the  same  thing  had  often  happened  to 
strangers  passing  through  that  country.  My  host  and 
hostess  were  a  plain  couple;  had  been  born  near  that  spot, 
and  of  course  were  well  satisfied  with  it;  for  they  scarcely 
knew  of  any  other.  The  use  of  butter  or  loheat  bread  was 
an  extravagance  in  which  they  had  never  indulged,  as 
they  told  me,  since  they  were  married — a  term  of  five 
years;  corn  hoe-cake  was  the  best,  by  a  "mighty  chance," 
in  their  judgment  ;  and  as  to  butter,  it  was  "  nothin  but 
grease,  no  how."  An  old  quilt  suspended  over  the  en- 
trance to  the  one  room  which  the  family  occupied,  was 
made  at  night  to  answer  instead  of  a  door,  and  drawn  aside 
through  the  day  to  admit  light  into  the  apartment:  it  being 
the  fashion  in  this  country  to  depend  for  light  on  the  open- 
ed door-way  instead  of  on  windows.  And  yet  my  host 
owned  a  good  farm,  such  as  a  northern  farmer  would  make 
to  yield  a  comfortable,  and  even  luxurious  living;  but  they 
seem  to  have  no  experimental  acquaintance  with  what  is 
implied  in  the  phrase  good  living,  hereabouts. 

Dec.  24.  Arrived,  an  hour  or  two  after  dark  this 
evening,  at  Princeton,  seat  of  justice  for  Caldwell  county, 
and  the  seat  of  Compton  College  —  a  pretty  fine  town. 
Was  cheered  that  I  had  got  once  more  into  a  cultivated 
and  peopled  region;  learned  that  I  could  have  avoided  the 
swampy  wilderness  I  had  been  traversing,  by  taking  a 
more  circuitous  route,  which  would  have  lengthened  the 
distance  by  about  forty  miles,  and  have  taken  me  through 
a  fertile  country,  by  a  much  easier  road.  The  knowledge 
came  rather  late;  but  it  may  avail  me  for  a  future  occasion. 

Dec.  26.  Reached  Salem,  the  capitol  of  Livingston 
county,  and  called  on  Mr.  Patterson,  one  of  our  subscri- 
bers, by  whom  1  was  very  hospitably  entertained  during  my 
stay  of  two  days.  I  was  very  much  cheered,  and  they  no 
less  so,  to  find  a  family  residing  here  who  were  recently 
fi-om  Reading,  Pennsylvania,  and  members  of  the  Univer- 
galist  church  in  that  town.  They  had  nearly  abandoned 
the  hope  of  ever  again  beholding  the  face  or  hearing  the 
voice  of  a  herald  of  glad  tidings;  for  none  before  myself 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  193 

was  ever  heard  in  all  this  region.     I  delivered  two  dis- 
courses here,  and  to  some  lasting  effect,  I  hope. 

Salem  was  the  second  place  at  which  1  preached,  after 
leaving  Louisville;  but  let  none  infer  from  this,  that  I 
kept  the  word  of  truth  "  like  a  fire  in  my  bones"  through 
all  that  distance.  No :  on  the  contrary,  I  made  it  a  point 
whenever  and  wherever  I  stopped,  if  but  for  five  minutes, 
to  make  my  profession  known,  which  did  not  fail  to  elicit 
much  conversation;  and  that  conversation,  it  is  hoped,  did 
not  fail  to  leave  impressions  which  may  favor  the  future 
upspringing  of  the  seed  of  truth  in  that  country;  should 
which  prove  the  case,  I  shall  not  have  incurred  the  hard- 
ships and  discouragements,  incident  to  traversing  its  dreary 
swamps,  to  no  end. 

Bee.  28.  Reached  Smithland,  and  called  on  William 
Gordon,  Post-master,  and  was  cordially  welcomed  to  the 
hospitalities  of  his  house.  Stayed  here  over  the  coming 
Sabbath;  lecturing  every  evening.  If  I  mistake  not  ap- 
pearances, something  of  consequence  can  be  accomplished 
here;  but  of  this  we  shall  know  more  by-and-by. 

Smithland  is  finely,  beautifully  situated;  it  is  not  easy 
conceiving  a  place  more  so.  The  Cumberland,  which 
here  pays  its  tribute  of  waters  to  the  Ohio,  is  a  fine  stream; 
navigable  by  steamboats  up  to  Nashville,  in  times  of  high 
water.  The  population  of  Smithland,  I  should  conjecture 
at  seven  or  eight  hundred.  Its  distance  by  water  from 
Louisville,  is  considerably  over  three  hundred  miles;  and 
by  the  land  route,  which  I  have  traveled  and  is  the  most 
direct,  it  is  two  hundred  and  ten  miles.  The  country 
intermediate  to  the  two  places  is  crossed  by  numerous 
streams;  most  of  them,  as  I  should  judge,  applicable  to 
manufactural  uses.  I  crossed  the  Salt  River,  Rough  River, 
Green  River,  Pond  River,  Tradewater,  and  Cumberland; 
and  only  twelve  miles  below,  the  Tennessee  disembogues 
its  waters.  From  this  place  I  shall  proceed  southwardly, 
through  the  western  district  of  Tennessee. 

For  want  of  other  matter,  I  shall  fill  out  this  chapter 
with  a  most  solemn,  and  awful,  and  extraordinary  case  of  a 
death-hed  renunciation  of  U7iiversaHsm.  Reader,  you  may 
picture  in  your  mind  a  parlor  in  Louisville  ;  and  the 
parties  which  occupy  it  during  the  story,  being  three 
elderly  Methodist  ladies;  the  eldest  a  native  of  the  Emer- 
ald Isle,  by  her  brogue;  and  the  writer  exerting  himself  to 


194  EXPERIENCE,    LABORS,   AND   TtlAVELS 

keep  his  risible  muscles  from  relaxing  into  any  thing  pro- 
fanely approaching  a  laugh. 

"  Did  a  single  case,  madam,  ever  come  within  your  own 
personal  knowledge?  as  to  tract  stories,  1  cannot  trust  to 
them." 

"  Well — y-e-s,  1  did  know  of  one  particular  instance." 

"  Relate  it,  madam,  if  you  please." 

"Well,  let  me  see;  I  must  begin  by  relating,  that  the 
person  referred  to  used  to  belong  to  our  church,  and  left 
it  through  some  dissatisfaction;  and  I'll  tell  you  a  strange 
circumstance  that  happened  soon  after.  I  was  at  a  prayer 
meeting  where  he  was,  and  while  he  was  at  prayer — I 
don't  know  whether  we  ought  to  believe  in  supernatural 
appearances — but,  at  any  rate,  I  saw  three  large  black 
spiders  under  the  table;  it  was  night,  and  they  kept  within 
the  shadow  of  the  table.  I  tucked  my  clothes  about  my 
feet,  and  couldn't  think  of  any  thing  but  them  spiders. 
So,  after  meeting,  one  of  the  sisters  asked  me,  '  Bless  me,' 
says  she,  'why  did  you  tuck  up  your  clothes  so?  Wasn't 
you  afraid  the  boys  would  see  your  ancles?'  I  would 
rather  they  saw  my  ancles,  says  I,  than  to  expose  myself 
to  them  spiders." 

"  But  the  renunciation,  madam ;  I  am  wanting  to  hear 
that  part." 

"  Well — now  I  give  it  to  you  as  it  was  told  to  me  by  a 
Presbyterian  deacon  that  was  present — he  said  he  never 
saw  such  a  sight  before :  the  poor  wretch's  features  were 
dreadfully  distorted;  his  eyes  strained  nearly  out  of  his 
head;  they  looked  as  big  as  bull's  eyes,  and  his  mouth 
stretched  to  an  awful  size." 

"But,  madam,  what  has  the  bigness  of  his  eyes  or  mouth 
to  do  with  the  matter;  even  if  the  latter  was  large  enough 
to  swallow  the  rest  of  his  body;  did  he  renounce  Univer- 
salism?" 

"  Why,  the  man  was  so  put  to  it  for  breath  that  he 
could'nt  speak;  he  tried  hard  to  tell  those  around  him  to 
pray ;  but  as  some  of  them  were  of  his  own  way  of  think- 
ing, they  pretended  not  to  understand  him;  and  when  he 
would  exclaim,  Pray!  Pray!  they  would  answer,  ^  Pay? 
Pay  ?  why  you  don't  owe  any  thing.'  And  so  the  poor 
man  died.  The  deacon  said  it  was  a  dreadful,  dreadful 
sight!" 

"  Why,  truly,  madam,  I  can  see  nothing  in  all  this, 
supposing  the  deacon's  version  of  the  matter  to  be  true, 


OF   A   tTNIVERSALIST   PEEACHER.  1^ 

that  looks  like  a  renunciation  of  Universalism!  Are  you 
even  sure  that  the  man  had  professed  that  belief?" 

"  Why,  indeed,  as  to  that  I  can't  say;  but  he  held  to 
some  things  that  are  believed  by  Universalists;  such  as, 
that  it's  our  duty  to  be  moral  in  this  life,  and  if  we  do,  that 
we'll  be  happy,  etc.,  which  is  pretty  much  the  same  way 
that  Universalists  talk." 

And  so  endeth  the  story  of  the  renunciation  ;  given, 
word  for  word,  as  near  as  I  can  remember,  as  it  was  origi- 
nally related.  Am  I  not  correct,  reader,  in  calling  it  a 
most  solemn,  and  awful,  and  extraordinary  case?  It  might 
be  made  the  basis  of  a  most  edifying  tract;  and  whoknow- 
eth  how  many  might  thereby  be  deterred  from  the  heresy 
of  believing  that  God  "will  have  all  men  to  be  saved,  and 
come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth." 


Paducah,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tennessee,  is,  as  stated  in 
my  last,  but  twelve  miles  below  Smithland,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Cumberland;  and  yet,  by  overland  travel,  it  is 
found  to  be  twenty-two  at  the  least :  I  found  it  thirty,  owing 
to  the  frequent  semi-circles  necessary  to  be  made  around 
the  frozen  marshes  and  lagoons  in  the  route :  besides 
which  difficulties,  there  are  two  ferries  in  the  way;  one 
over  the  Tennessee,  and  the  other  over  a  stream  called 
Island  Creek.  When  I  had  arrived  at  the  former,  which 
was  near  night,  on  January  2d,  1837,  I  found  it  could  not 
be  crossed,  in  consequence  of  a  high  wind  prevailing.  It 
is  here  a  noble  stream,  full  a  half  mile  in  width.  Six  per- 
sons besides  myself  were  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to 
cross;  two  had  waited  since  the  day  before. 

"And  how  long  may  it  be,"  I  inquired  of  the  negro  ser- 
vant in  attendance,  "  till  the  wind  shall  fall?" 

"  Don  know,  marsa,  he  blow  for  common,  tree  day  up 
stream,  and  tree  down,  den  tree  up  agin." 

"According  to  that  we  may  not  get  across  in  a  month! 
And  is  this  log  nut-shell  of  a  building  to  be  our  quarters 
in  the  meantime?" 

"  Yes,  sir,  cep  you  go  better  an  two  mile." 

"  Why,  I  see  no  place  where  we  can  sleep;  and  there  is 
no  woman  about  the  premises,  and  therefore  the  chance  of 
finding  any  thing  to  eat  is  but  slender!" 

"  Hab  to  make  beds  on  de  floor,  marsa;  an  I  hab  bread 
an  meat  yere  all  de  time."  Cold  corn  hoe-cake  and  fat 
pork,  be  it  known  to  thee,  reader. 


196         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

"And  what  will  be  done  with  my  horse?" 

"  I've  guv  him  some  corn,  sir:  we've  got  no  hay,  nor 
fodder,  nor  stable;  got  all  dese  tings  at  marsa's,  but  dat's 
eight  mile  from  yere." 

Such,  then,  were  my  quarters  that  night,  with  six  others; 
not  counting  the  negro,  nor  his  master  and  master's  son, 
who  came  about  night  fall;  in  a  little,  low,  open  hovel, 
with  the  door  wide  open  to  admit  the  light,  and  sticks  of 
wood  set  on  end  for  seats;  and  so  bitter  cold  was  the  night, 
that  sitting  close  to  the  fire,  I  found  it  necessary  to  keep 
my  cloak  closel}''  wrapped  about  my  ears. 

"  If  de  wind  falls  in  de  night,"  said  the  negro,  "  you 
must  get  over  afore  de  sun  rises,  for  de  wind  and  de  sun 
get  up  togeder  yere.'*' 

The  fidelity  of  the  negro  ferryman  to  his  master's  in- 
terest, interested  me  in  him  considerably;  much  better 
qualified  than  his  master  for  pecuniary  transactions;  he 
seems  to  have  the  entire  management  in  that  respect,  not 
only  keeping  the  purse,  but  actually  controlling  its  dis- 
bursements, so  far  at  least  as  regards  the  ferry,  and 
seeming  to  exercise  a  sort  of  guardianship  over  his  mas- 
ter, in  pecuniary  matters,  who  seems  an  easy  man,  and  but 
indifferently  fitted  for  business  of  that  kind  :  the  negro 
might  easily  be  mistaken  by  a  stranger  for  the  proprietor 
of  the  establishment. 

Fortunately  for  us,  the  wind  fell  in  the  night,  and  we 
were  enabled  to  get  over  the  river  before  the  sun  arose. 
From  the  ferry  1  had  but  four  miles  to  Paducah,  provided 
I  would  swim  my  horse  across  Island  Creek,  which  I  pre- 
ferred to  do,  bitterly  cold  as  it  was,  rather  than  make  a 
circuit  of  ten  or  twelve  miles,  through  an  almost  impassa- 
ble morass.  It  will  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  the  difficul- 
ties of  the  traveling,  when  I  inform  him  that  without  stop- 
ping for  breakfast,  it  kept  me  busy  till  half  past  ten  o'clock 
to  accomplish  that  distance  of  four  miles. 

The  inhabitants  of  Paducah  are  a  motley  community, 
Jew  and  Gentile,  barbarian  and  civilized,  bond  and  free;  a 
rare  collection,  I  ween,  take  them  all  in  all.  And  motley 
also  are  their  employments;  amongst  which,  cock-fighting 
is  not  the  least  conspicuous.  Nevertheless,  Paducah  is  a 
busy  and  growing  place,  and  destined,  I  should  judge,  from 
its  position,  to  become  a  town  of  much  trading  importance. 

"  It  ivont  do  to  die  by.''''  I  went  from  house  to  house  in  Pa- 
ducah, soliciting  subscriptions  to  the  Sentinel.     The  read- 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  197 

ei*  may  easily  conjecture  with  what  success  in  such  a  place. 
By  one  individual,  of  a  cadaverous  countenance,  1  was 
abused  in  terms  of  violent  bitterness,  which  surprised  me. 

"  You  may  go  to  h-U  with  your  cursed  paper,"  said  he, 
"you'll  find  it  wont  take  with  an  enlightened  and  christian 
community  like  this,  I  tell  you.  For  my  own  part,  sir,  I 
am  a  dying  man.  You  may  see  by  my  appearance  that 
the  consumption  will  soon  make  a  finish  of  me;  and  I 
would  not  for  a  kingdom  die  in  such  a  cursed  faith  as 
yours.  It  will  do  in  a  calm,  sir,  but,  by  h-U,  it  wont  do 
in  a  storm." 

A  beautiful  illustration,  was  it  not  reader,  of  the  saving 
influences  of  the  popular  creed? 

Northern  people  are  much  deceived  with  regard  to  the 
temperature  of  the  climate  in  this  latitude.  I  never  expe- 
rienced colder  weather  than  is  prevailing  here  at  present, 
January  3.  My  horse  trembled  as  with  an  ague  fit  this 
morning,  in  consequence  of  not  being  stabled  in  the  night; 
and  so  intense  was  the  cold,  that  a  brook  was  froze  suflfi- 
ciently  hard  to  bear  my  horse  this  morning,  which  was 
opened  with  an  axe  the  previous  evening.  The  changes 
of  the  temperature  are  very  violent,  and  they  succeed 
each  other  with  much  suddenness.  A  meteorological  table 
kept  in  southern  Kentucky  would  present  changes  almost 
incredible  to  a  dweller  on  the  sea-board.  For  example;  I 
left  Louisville,  December  15;  weather  so  warm  that  my 
cloak  was  an  incumberance;  evening  of  the  same  day  was 
beautifully  moonlight;  next  morning  found  about  two 
inches  of  snow  on  the  ground;  continued  raining  all  day; 
same  evening  it  turned  to  a  driving  sleet,  then  to  a  snow, 
and  by  nine  o'clock  it  had  become  too  cold  for  either.  17th. 
Ground  frozen  very  hard.  18th.  Still  very  cold.  19th.  A 
thaw.  20th.  An  uncommonly  violent  rain  all  day,  until  early 
in  the  night,  when  the  wind  veered  into  the  north,  and 
next  morning  the  ground  was  hard  frozen,  and  a  Siberian 
winter  prevailed.  23d.  Another  thaw.  24th.  Warm  rain. 
25th.  1  started  with  the  design  of  traveling  twenty-six 
miles;  a  soft  mud  under  foot,  a  drizzling  rain  over  head. 
I  had  not  gone  six  miles  ere  the  mud  began  to  stiffen  with 
the  frost;  the  puddles  in  the  road  were  encrusted  with  ice. 
Indeed,  so  almost  instantaneous  was  the  change,  that  the 
northern  wind  exerted  upon  the  retreating  waters  which 
had  fallen  from  the  clouds  on  the  previous  night;  a  power 
as  magical,  and  almost  as  immediate,  as  that  which  was 


198        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

exerted  by  the  rod  of  Moses  upon  the  waters  of  the  Red 
Sea. 

Fifth.  Crossed  the  Tennessee  line,  and  reached  Paris, 
fifteen  and  a  half  miles  beyond  it,  in  a  due  south  direction. 
It  is  decidedly,  and  by  much,  the  handsomest  town  I  have 
seen  since  I  left  Louisville :  it  contains  a  population  of 
twelve  hundred.  Went  the  usual  round  of  shops  and 
stores  in  quest  of  subscribers  to  the  Sentinel,  but  failed  of 
procuring  one;  not  from  any  particular  opposition  to  the 
doctrine,  but  from  a  sheer  indifference  to  mental  improve- 
ment of  all  kinds;  an  indifference  but  too  general  at  the 
South. 

I  have  seen  so  much  rudeness  of  manners  during  the 
last  two  hundred  miles  of  my  journey,  and  heard  so  much 
coarseness  of  language,  that  my  soul  is  sick  of  it.  I  feel 
a  moral  nausea,  which  induces  me  to  look  eagerly  forward 
to  the  period  of  my  proposed  return  to  the  bosom  of  more 
refined  society.  I  wish  the  preachers  of  endless  wrath, 
who  have  had  this  region  to  themselves  hitherto,  undis- 
turbed by  the  demoralizing  doctrine  of  heaven's  universal 
love,  could  vindicate  the  purifying  influences  of  their  faith 
by  the  fruits  of  peace,  order,  uprightness,  and  brotherly 
kindness,  of  the  society  which  has  been  formed  under  its 
auspices!  it  is  at  least  necessary  to  make  good  their  pre- 
tensions as  to  the  improving  qualities  of  that  dogma,  and 
ihe  deleterious  ones  of  Universalism;  that  where  the  for- 
mer exclusively  prevails,  the  general  state  of  public  mo- 
rals should  greatly  surpass  that  which  exists  where  the 
latter  is  prevalent.     And  yet,  how  different  is  the  fact  ! 

Camp-meetings  are  very  frequent  and  large  in  this  south- 
ern country,  and  with  the  horse  races,  they  form  the  prin- 
ciple diversion  of  the  season.  But  the  Methodists  do  not 
here,  as  at  the  North,  enjoy  a  monopoly  in  the  article  of 
Camp-meetings;  on  the  contrary,  the  Presbyterians  en- 
gage in  this  wholesale  scheme  of  proselytism  as  largely 
as  they;  and,  indeed,  it  originated  with  the  Presbyterians. 
Camp-grounds  are  here  permanent  establishments;  instead 
of  tents,  durable  booths  are  in  many  cases  erected,  formed 
of  plank,  and  even  of  brick  in  some  instances,  with  sepa- 
rate apartments  for  the  different  sexes,  and  for  the  servants, 
which  is  certainly  more  compatible  with  christian  order 
and  decency,  than  for  all  to  bundle  in  the  straw  together, 
as  is  frequently  witnessed  east  of  the  mountains. 

Sixth,    Called  towards  evening  in  the  neighborhood  of 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  199 

Wright's  Post  Office,  eighteen  miles  south  of  Paris,  to  col- 
lect a  small  sum  due  for  a  past  volume  of  the  Sentinel : 
the  person  was  from  home ;  his  family  told  me  of  a  near 
neighbor  who  would  be  glad  to  see  me,  being  zealous  in 
the  faith.  I  accordingly  made  him  a  call;  found  the  old 
gentleman  at  the  wood-pile. 
"Are  you  Mr.  Simpson,  sir?" 
"  Yes  sir,  I  go  by  that  name.'^ 

"  Would  you  like,  sir,  to  see  a  Universalist  preacher?'' 
"  Yes  1"  his  eye  brightening  up,  "  I  should  be  very  glad 
to  see  one." 

*'  Well  sir,  you  have  one  before  you." 
"  Happy  to  see  you  sir,  dismount  and  come  in." 
Such  was  the  first  introduction  of  myself  to  the  Univer- 
salists  of  Tennessee. 

It  was  soon  arranged  that  I  should  preach  the  next  eve- 
ning at  the  house  of  Mr.  Hill,  and  on  Sunday  morning 
in  a  school-house  near  by.  Accordingly,  on  the  evening  of 
January  7th,  in  an  extremely  open  log  house,  without  any 
partition  between  the  ground  floor  and  shingled  roof,  I 
preached  the  first  Universalist  sermon  ever  delivered  in  the 
Western  District  of  Tennessee,  \o  a  small  circle  of  hearers 
ranged  around  the  fire;  and  so  very,  very  cold  was  the 
evening,  that  those  who  could  not  get  within  the  light  of 
the  fire  had  to  wrap  bed-quilts  about  their  shoulders  to 
keep  themselves  comfortable.  During  the  sermon  the 
chimney  took  fire;  and  being  constructed  of  wood,  I  had 
to  suspend  the  preaching  until  it  was  quenched,  when  I 
resumed  and  closed  without  further  interruption.  The 
next  morning  I  found  a  good  congregation  of  both  sexes 
at  the  school-house,  which  was  also  very  open,  and  without 
a  door.  They  gave  me  an  attentive  hearing  through  a 
somewhat  lengthy  discourse. 

Same  evening,  rode  to  Huntingdon,  the  county  seat,  ac- 
companied by  the  old  gentleman  on  whom  I  first  called. 
Although  it  was  near  sun-down  when  we  arrived,  I  took 
immediate  measures  towards  a  meeting  in  the  Court-house, 
and  succeeded  in  getting  a  large  congregation.  Court- 
houses are  not  kept  locked  in  that  country;  they  seem  all 
to  be  in  a  delapidated  state,  as  though  they  had  no  owners; 
the  windows  broken,  and  doors  unhinged,  with  interior 
furniture  and  arrangements  corresponding.  The  same  is 
the  case  with  school-houses  and  all  other  public  property. 
I  have    found   vastly    better   traveling  since  1  have 


200        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

entered  Tennessee;  the  country  is  more  open  and  dry, the 
soil  being  somewhat  sandy.  I  feel  as  though  I  had  strug- 
gled through  the  chief  difficulties  of  the  journey :  the 
face  of  the  country  is  pleasant,  and  even  beautiful  be- 
times. I  saw  yesterday,  for  the  first  time,  a  field  of  cotton; 
it  had  not  undergone  its  last  picking,  and  therefore,  pre- 
sented a  white  and  handsome  appearance.  If  the  reader 
can  imagine  a  field  thickly  covered  with  weeds,  disposed 
neatly  in  rows,  like  field  peas;  and  if  he  can  further  ima- 
gine some  large  flakes  of  snow  to  have  fallen  from  the 
clouds  and  lodged  on  said  weeds  without  touching  the  ad- 
jacent ground,  he  can  then  have  a  true  idea  of  a  field  of 
cotton  just  before  picking.  I  have  said  that  I  felt  as 
though  the  chief  difficulties  of  the  journey  were  sur- 
mounted. I  meant  the  difficulties  o^  roads  and  weather;  but 
there  are  others  before  me  which  I  contemplate  with  no 
great  satisfaction,  viz:  the  long  reaches  of  thirty  and. 
forty  miles  between  houses  where  entertainment  can  be 
had,  through  a  sparsely  and  rudely  peopled  wilderness,  and 
the  having  to  pay  two  or  three  dollars  for  a  single  night's 
entertainment  of  man  and  horse.* 

A  fact,  displaying  the  iiijiuence  of  j>repossession.  Not  a 
hundred  miles  from  here,  1  stopped  for  the  night  at  too 
late  an  hour  to  admit  of  my  getting  up  a  meeting;  and  on 

learning  that  the ists  had  preaching  that  evening,  I 

attended,  as  is  my  invariable  custom  on  such  occasions. 
An  elderly  gentleman,  as  I  entered,  had  just  commenced 
reading  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Ecclesiastes;  he  was  a 
portly  personage,  with  spectacles  on  his  nose,  and  a  senten- 
tious manner.  To  my  great  astonishment,  when  he  had 
finished  reading  the  third  verse,  the  concluding  clause  of 
which  reads,  "  In  the  place  where  the  tree  falleth  there  it 
shall  be,"  he  made  a  little  pause,  as  if  to  obtain  greater 
attention  to  what  was  about  to  follow — then  elevating,  and 
giving  additional  emphasis  to  his  voice,  he  repeated,  "  And 
as  death  leaves  us,  judgment  shall  find  us : "  he  then  con- 
cluded the  chapter  in  his  ordinary  tone.  At  the  close  of 
the  meeting  I  took  the  old  gentleman  aside,  and  respect- 
fully asked  him  how  he  reconciled  so  gross  an  inter- 
polation with  his  religious  pretensions;  for  if,  said  I, 
the  inspired  writer  had  wished  to  convey  the  idea  which 

*The  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that  this  was  during  the  specula- 
ting era  of  1835 — 7.     Prices  have  much  abated  there  since  then. 


OF   A   TJNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  20! 

your  added  words  import,  he  could  have  found  means  to 
express  it  without  your  assistance."  The  old  gentleman 
heard  me  with  an  astonishment  which  seemed  to  strike  him 
dumb  for  awhile. 

"Do  you  then  deny,"  he  at  length  exclaimed,  "that 
those  words  stand  in  the  chapter?  " 

"I  certainly  do." 

"  Which  then  am  I  to  believe,  your  word,  or  my  own 
eyes?" 

"  My  word,  except  your  eyes  serve  you  better  than 
while  you  read  that  chapter.  But  are  you  sure  those 
words  met  your  eyes  while  you  were  reading?" 

"  Sure?  why  certainly!  and  to-night  is  not  the  first  time 
I  have  read  them  there." 

"  Then  they  are  there  yet,  and  if  so,  I  can  see  them  too  : 
be  so  good,  then,  as  to  point  them  out  to  me." 

"To be  sure;  I'll  do  that  for  you,  in  a  minute," said  the 
old  man,  opening  to  the  place  in  a  very  hurried  and  confi- 
dent manner,  and  commenced  readhig,  "'In  the  place 
where  the  tree  falleth  there  it  shall  bo.''  Ahem!  Why 
it  isn't  here  sure  enough!  Well,  was  I  mistaken  after 
all  ?" 

"I  must  think  j^ou  were,  my  friend,  for  there  is  no  blank 
space  in  the  chapter,  as  though  it  had  been  erased  since 
you  read  it." 

"  Well,  1  should  be  sorry  to  have  it  thought  that  I  added 
that  clause  on  purpose  to  deceive;  I  would  have  taken  my 
oath  that  I  saw  it." 

"  Make  yourself  easy,  my  friend,"  said  I,  "  I  do  not  sus- 
pect you  of  any  intentional  mistake  in  the  matter;  you 
were  so  strongly  prepossessed  with  the  belief  that  it  was 
there,  that  you  thought  you  saw  it," 

And  I  felt  as  I  spoke,  when  I  took  leave  of  the  old  gen- 
tleman with  this  assurance;  for  our  prepossessions  do 
strongly  influence  our  perceptions.  What  else  enabled 
our  grand-mothers  to  see  ghosts  where  they  never  were? 
and  why  else  could  the  devil  be  seen  in  olden  times  of  a 
dark  night,  by  merely  looking  over  the  left  shoulder?  And 
why,  too,  is  so  much  evidence  of  endless  misery  still,  by  a 
certain  class,  seen  in  the  Bible,  which  actually  says  nothing 
about  it?  Prepossession,  sufficiently  answers  all  and  sun- 
dry of  these  questions. 

1  left  Huntingdon,  which  is  the  seat  of  justice  for  Car- 
roll  county,   on  the  morning  of  January  9th,  with   the 
14 


202         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

view,  if  possible,  of  reaching  Jackson  the  same  evening, 
which  is  the  capital  of  Madison  county,  and  distant  thirty- 
eight  miles.  The  reason  of  this  haste  was,  that  a  storm 
was  impending,  and  as  1  designed  to  make  a  stay  of  some 
days  in  Jackson,  I  wished  to  reach  it  before  the  storm  took 
place.  I  had  not,  however,  proceeded  many  miles,  ere  I 
was  overtaken  by  a  horseman,  a  dweller  in  the  parts,  who 
expressed  surprise  at  my  riding  with  such  speed,  and  with 
true  rustic  license  inquired  the  reason;  whence  I  came; 
whither  going;  my  name;  profession,  etc.  On  learning 
that  I  was  a  Universalist  preacher,  he  informed  me  that 
some  excellent  neighbors  of  his  were  of  my  religion;  that 
they  were  expecting  the  arrival  of  a  preacher  amongst 
them,  ere  long;  that  from  the  name,  I  must  be  the  person 
looked  for;  and  that  they  would  be  much  disappointed 
should  I  pass  them  without  a  call.  Of  course  I  could  not 
withstand  these  considerations,  so  I  left  the  "  big  road" 
and  turned  in  with  him  to  the  plantation  of  Mr.  John  Bell, 
whom  I  found  to  be  a  sincere  and  zealous  co-religionist. 
It  was  twelve  o'clock  in  the  day,  yet  an  appointment  was 
given  out  for  the  evening,  and  a  large  number  of  neigh- 
bors congregated,  to  whom,  for  an  hour  and  a  half  I  ad- 
dressed the  words  of  life.  Mr.  Bell  was,  until  recently,  a 
high  Calvinistic  Seceder. 

Jan.  10.  Keached  Jackson  toward  sun-down.  Called  on 
Mr.  M.  L.  Brown,  by  whose  co-operation  I  was  enabled  to 
get  up  a  meeting  in  the  Court-house  that  evening.  By 
the  way.  Court-houses  are  never  found  locked  in  this  coun- 
try; on  the  contrary,  the  doors  are  usually  standing  wide 
open,  not  unfrequently  broken  off  their  hinges;  the  win- 
dows are  all  broken,  every  one :  it  seems  a  point  of 
conscience  to  let  no  one  escape  this  embellishment.  I 
preached  in  the  evening  to  a  larger  number  than  had  con- 
vened the  nighi  before.  On  the  11th,  as  I  was  about  leav- 
ing the  town,  I  was  informed  by  some  very  respectable 
citizens  that  public  attention  was  becoming  considerably 
excited  toward  my  doctrine,  and  that  I  should  be  able  to 
increase  my  subscription  list  by  the  delivery  of  another 
lecture.  Accordingly,  I  agreed  to  return  and  preach  on 
the  following  Sunday  evening.  In  the  interim  I  went  into 
the  country,  and  held  three  meetings;  one,  six  miles  from 
Jackson,  and  two  about  twelve  miles.  The  latter  were  in 
a  neighborhood  of  Tunkers,  who  in  this  country  are 
called  Universalists;  and  they  so  call  themselves.     I  found 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  203 

a  warm  and  ready  countenance  amongst  them.  It  is  this 
district  that  the  eccentric  David  Crocket  represented  in 
Congress,  and  these  Tunkers  were  his  immediate  neigh- 
bors. Returning  to  Jackson,  agreeably  to  arrangement,  I 
addressed  an  excellent  audience,  who  gave  evidence,  by 
their  attention,  of  a  deep  interest  in  the  subject. 

Jackson  is  a  handsome  and  improving  town;  it  lies  on  a 
stream  called  the  Forked  Deer,  which  is  navigable  up  to 
the  town  for  flat-boats.  Jackson  is  therefore  a  depot 
for  the  cotton  of  the  surrounding  region :  the  bustle  of  its 
streets  affords  evidence  that  it  is  a  place  of  considerable 
trade. 

Jan.  16.  Arrived  toward  night  at  Bolivar,  county  seat 
of  Hardiman.  The  Hatchy  river  is  navigable  up  to  this 
place  for  small  sized  steamboats.  Having  been  born  on 
the  sea-board,  I  always  feel  most  at  home  in  the  vicinity  of 
navigable  waters,  and  was  therefore  agreeably  surprized 
at  seeing  a  heavily  freighted  steamboat  plying  on  the  nar- 
row Hatchy,  as  I  crossed  the  bridge  over  that  stream. 
The  direct  distance,  inland,  from  the  Mississippi,  must  be 
about  seventy  miles.  I  had  no  appointment  at  Bolivar, 
nor  friend  on  whom  to  call  in  the  place,  I  therefore  put  up 
at  one  of  the  hotels.  Hired  a  negro  to  make  a  fire  in  the 
Court-house,  and  succeeded  in  getting  quite  a  tolerable 
congregation.  Whilst  I  was  at  the  hotel,  in  Bolivar,  I  had 
much  conversation  on  theology  with  numerous  planters 
from  the  country,  who  were  then  in  attendance  upon 
Court.  The  following  fragment  of  one  of  those  colloquies 
will  afford  a  specimen  of  their  character  in  general  : 

"  But  I've  been  another  man  since  I  found  religion." 

"  Stay,  my  friend — pardon  my  interruption — where  did 
you  find  your  religion?" 

'•  I  found  it  at  Grove  Corners  meeting-house." 

'•  Is  there  any  more  to  be  found  there?  or  did  you  get 
ail  there  was  V 

"  No,  sir,  I  didn't  get  it  all;  I  allow  you  can  get  some 
too,  'S  you'll  use  the  means." 

*'  What,  of  the  same  sort  v/ith  that  you  found  V 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  Perhaps  it  may  not  be  worth  the  trouble,  when  found; 
and  besides,  as  I  am  journeying  on  horseback,  I  might  find 
it  tr.!  '  •■  iesome  to  cany.     Is  it  a  heavy  article  V 

"I  calculate,  stinger,  you  never  had  religion,  if  you 


204        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

are  a  preacher;"  somewhat  piqued,  "or  I  allow,  if  you 
had,  you've  lost  it." 

"  In  the  latter  case,  I  might,  I  suppose,  recover  the  pro- 
perty by  advertising  it,  with  a  reward  to  the  finder."  As 
this  was  uttered  with  much  cool  gravity,  the  stranger  sup- 
posed me  serious,  and  was  overwhelmed  with  amazement. 

"Why,  nowl  if  that  don't  saw  my  leg  clean  off!  I 
never  see'd  afore  such  ignorance  of  religion!  You  talk 
just  as  if  religion  was  something  a  man  carried  in  his 
pocket." 

"So  I  understood  you  to  speak,  my  friend;  and  I  adapt- 
ed my  discourse  to  your  apparent  views;  for  you  talk  of 
getting  religion — -finding — losing — and  having  it,  as  though 
it  were  in  fact  a  tangible  matter,  a  thing  of  possession, 
rather  than  of  practice  and  feeling.'''' 

The  devil  must  have  a  fund  of  religion  by  this  time,  ac- 
cording to  the  language  in  common  use  among  religionists, 
for  he  is  said  to  have  gotten  many  a  poor  fellow's  religion 
away  from  him.  But  possibly  he  does  not  keep  all  that  he 
gets,  and  in  that  case,  he  must  be  an  ill-natured  fiend,  to 
filch  from  others  what  can  be  of  no  use  to  himself. 

Seriously;  every  lover  of  Christianity  must  deplore  the 
fact,  that  maugre  all  the  preaching,  praying,  professing, 
writing,  etc.,  about  religion,  so  little  apparently  is  known 
of  its  nature  and  offices.  It  seems  a  cabalistic  spell,  very 
potent  in  its  qualities,  but  for  what  1  To  save  us  from 
hell — to  get  us  to  heaven!  We  all  have  religious  facul- 
ties; in  some  they  are  more  active  than  in  others;  and  in 
the  same  persons  they  are  more  active  at  some  times  than 
at  others  :  when  these  are  excited  into  exercise,  we  expe- 
rience religion;  and  this  experience  is  delightful  or  other- 
wise, according  as  the  objects  by  which  it  is  excited  are 
pleasing  or  terrible.  Experimental  religion  is  feeling, 
produced  by  the  exercise  of  our  religious  faculties.  Prac- 
tical religion  is  action,  prompted  by  that  feeling.  He, 
then,  is  religious,  whose  religious  faculties  are  in  constant 
exercise;  and  he  is  irreligious,  in  whom  those  faculties 
are  dormant.  Now  a  man  may  be  religious  without  being 
a  christian;  because  his  religious  faculties  may  be  acted 
upon  by  other  and  different  objects  from  those  which 
Christianity  furnishes;  he  may  be  a  Jew,  Mahommedan, 
Pagan,  and  yet  a  religious  man;  and  on  the  other  hand, 
he  may  be  in  faith  a  Christian,  without  being  a  religious 
man.     The  current  phraseology,  therefore,  on  the  subject 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  205 

of  religion,  such  as  getting  y eWgion— finding — having — 
losing  it,  etc.  expresses  no  intelligible  sense  whatever. 

Jan.  17.  Reached  La  Grange,  Fayette  county,  a  vil- 
lage of  mushroom  growth,  near  the  southern  line  of  the 
State.  Its  situation  is  exceedingly  pleasant.  The  singu- 
larity of  a  native  pine  forest,  here  presents  itself,  and  its 
usual  concomitant,  a  sandy  soil;  the  territory  of  both  is 
extremely  circumscribed,  and  they  are  therefore  the  more 
pleasing  from  their  novelty.  In  the  country  where  the 
Delaware  and  Susquehanna  rivers  have  their  birth,  the 
pine  forest  is  but  a  common-place  and  not  much  admired 
feature  in  the  landscape;  but  as  I  had  not  seen  it  since  1 
left  that  region  until  my  arrival  here,  I  was  well  content 
to  hail  it  again  as  an  old  acquaintance.  The  town  of  La 
Grange  is  spread  over  a  large  extent  of  ground;  if,  how- 
ever, the  improvements  in  prospect  should  be  realized,  it 
will  become  compact.  It  lies  in  the  midst  of  a  rich  cotton- 
growing  country,  and  gives  promise,  by  being  connected 
by  railroad  with  the  Mississippi  at  Memphis,  of  being  the 
principal  depot  for  that  staple  for  a  wide  extent  of  terri- 
tory. Society  there  is  agreeable  and  intelligent  in  a  high 
degree,  and  in  all  respects,  save  the  high  rates  of  living, 
it  is  an  agreeable  situatioa  for  a  residence. 

I  have  delivered  six  lectures  in  La  Grange,  to  gradually 
growing  audiences;  I  have  also  delivered  five  in  the  coun- 
try neighborhoods  adjacent,  and  am  to  preach  again  next 
Sabbath,  once  in  town,  and  twice  six  miles  out;  two  of  mv 
lectures  were  delivered  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Kilgore. 

You  may  easily  imagine,  reader,  the  novelty  which  at- 
taches to  the  subject  of  Universalism  in  the  parts,  when 
you  recollect,  that  throughout  the  entire  Western  District 
of  Tennessse,  it  had  never  before  been  preached,  nor  had 
our  works  found  their  way  into  this  region;  and  moreover, 
this  is  a  quarter  into  which  extremely  few  eastern  men 
penetrate,  that  eur  principles  might  be  introduced  by  their 
means.  All  is  therefore  new,  all  strange;  even  the  most 
liberal,  who  think  the  doctrine  rational,  still  shake  their 
heads  doubtingly  when  informed  that  it  is  maintainable 
from  the  Scriptures;  their  education  has  prepared  them  to 
think  that  point  quite  incredible.  "  It  may  be  so,"  say 
some,  "  but  I  should  be  afraid  to  venture  it  !"  Afraid  to 
venture  it!  Look  at  the  principle  involved  in  this  declara- 
tion: God  may  be  as  good  as  you  say;  but  he  may  not,  and 
I  shall  be  prepared  for  the  worst!     Such  is  the  amount  of 


206        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

it.  A  want  of  confidence  in  the  justice  and  benevolence 
of  heaven  is  a  necessary  fruit  of  the  religious  education 
they  have  received. 

Jan.  27.  I  am  now  in  Salem,  Mississippi,  where  I 
have  delivered  two  discourses,  and  am  to  preach  again 
to-morrow,  (Saturday,)  at  eleven  o'clock,  A.  M.  It  is  a 
strong  seat  of  Methodism;  some  five  or  six  preachers  of 
that  order  live  in  the  vicinity.  The  town,  consisting  of 
nearly  a  score  of  log  buildings,  inclusive  of  a  church,  has 
been  built  within  a  month  or  two;  it  lies  within  what  is 
termed  "  The  Nation,"  i.  e.,  the  territory  owned,  until  re- 
cently, by  the  Chickasaw  tribe  of  Indians;  many  of  whom 
still  linger  in  the  parts.  It  is  now  being  rapidily  settled 
by  the  whites,  and  is  destined  soon  to  be  transformed  from 
an  unbroken  forest  into  a  rich  and  populous  cotton  coun- 
try. There  are,  even  here,  a  few  individuals  of  good 
morals  and  high  standing  in  society,  who  "  have  seen  and 
do  testify,  that  the  Father  sent  the  Son  to  be  the  Savior  of 
the  w^orld." 

I  am  in  the  midst,  remember,  of  the  Chickasaw  tribe, 
and  have  opportunities  of  obtaining  an  insight  into  their 
character.  It  is  emphatically  that  of  children :  "  pleased 
with  a  rattle,  tickled  with  a  straw."  They  are  as  harm- 
less and  unsophisticated  a  people  as  I  ever  saw.  I  yester- 
day witnessed  a  meeting  take  place  between  a  man  and  his 
wife,  who  had  been  a  week  or  two  parted  from  each  other; 
they  were  each  on  a  horse,  and  met  unexpectedly  at  the 
door  of  the  woman's  father;  they  actually  sprung  from 
their  horses,  and  were  instantly  enfolded  in  each  other's 
arms,  indulging  in  the  most  extravagant  caresses,  without 
seeming  at  all  to  heed  the  strange  eyes  which  witnessed 
their  conduct.  I  instinctively  averted  my  face,  as  did  also 
the  other  whites;  it  seeming  to  us  indelicate  to  witness 
such  gross  familiarity  between  the  sexes;  but  their  ideas 
of  delicacy  are  less  refined,  and,  perhaps,  the  happier  they 
that  they  are  so.  The  Chickasaws,  1  am  told,  number 
about  five  thousand  souls.  I  quartered  that  night  within 
two  or  three  miles  of  the  residence  of  the  chief,  or  king. 
He  is  pretty  wealthy,  they  tell  me — has  several  wives,  and 
a  considerable  number  of  negro  slaves.  There  are  many 
of  the  Indians  who  own  slaves,  and  many  also  who  have 
several  wives.  The  lands  they  occupied  in  common,  have 
been  divided  to  them  severally  by  the  general  government, 
preparatory  to  their  being  removed  beyond   the    Missis- 


OF   A  TJNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  207 

sippi.  Their  removal  is  to  take  place  next  fall;  they  are 
now,  therefore,  selling  their  lands  to  the  whites,  who  are 
rapidly  flocking  into  the  country,  from  the  slave-holding 
States;  this  being  a  cotton-growing  country.  Of  course 
the  Indians  are  flush  of  money;  and  they  spend  it  as  chil- 
dren would  spend  it,  on  baubles,  and  fineries,  and  knives, 
and  horses,  etc.  From  them  the  merchants,  and  venders 
of  every  kind,  reap  their  principal  harvest  of  gain.  They 
think  of  nothing  beyond  the  wants  of  the  present  hour; 
they  buy  necessaries  only  as  necessity  urges  them;  and 
the  more  cunning  whites  are  not  unmindful  to  extort,  for 
their  necessities  at  least,  a  two-fold  price  for  all  they  buy. 

An  Indian  in  his  native  woods,  is  truly  a  picturesque  ob- 
ject! His  dress  is  very  fantastical.  He  usually  rides  his 
horse  on  a  smart  canter,  and  makes  quite  a  jingling  with 
his  silver  gorgets  pendant  from  his  neck.  Full  one  half 
the  houses  I  passed  yesterday  and  to-day  were  Indian  dwell- 
ings, and  a  majority  of  the  travelers  I  met  were  of  that 
people.  They  are  hospitable,  civil,  generous,  and  brave. 
If  they  incur  the  penalty  of  death,  by  a  capital  offence, 
they  submit  to  it  with  fortitude;  they  as  often  as  other- 
wise become  their  own  executioners;  they  never  seek  to 
evade  it  by  flight.  If  the  execution  be  deferred  till  a 
given  time,  they  go  at  large  in  the  interim  upon  their 
ordinary  avocations,  as  hunting,  etc.;  and  when  the  day 
arrives  they  present  themselves  as  willing  victims. 

In  the  vicinity  of  Pontotoc,  Mississippi,  a  few  days 
since,  one  Indian  killed  another  in  a  frolic;  he  went  to  the 
relatives  of  his  victim,  giving  them  their  choice,  either  to 
become  his  executioners,  or  allow  him  to  be  his  own. 
The  latter  being  their  choice,  he  loaded  his  rifle  and  dis- 
charged it  into  his  breast,  by  means  of  the  ram-rod.  Th  e 
brother  of  the  murdered,  not  being  satisfied,  killed  a 
brother  of  the  murderer;  and  he  then  served  himself  as 
the  other  had  done,  taking  the  rifle  for  the  purpose  out  of 
his  own  molher^s  hand,  who  had  loaded  it  in  order  to  be- 
come his  executioner  !  These  things,  although  they  com- 
port not  with  our  ideas  of  propriety,  show  strongly  with 
what  fidelity  they  adhere  to  principle.  The  offsets  to  the 
good  traits  in  the  Chickasaw  character,  are  improvidence, 
indolence,  and  intemperance;  and  these,  indeed,  seem  in- 
separable from  the  savage  state, 

I  returned  to  La  Grange,  where,  on  Sunday  evening,  the 
29th,  I  delivered  a  last  discourse  to  an  excellent  audience; 


?08  EXPERIENCE,    LABOKS,    AND    TRAVELS 

and  on  the  forenoon  of  same  day,  to  a  very  full  house,  five 
miles  in  the  country.  On  the  31st  I  rode  to  Holly  Springs^ 
seat  of  justice  for  Marshal  county,  Mississippi,  and  got  up' 
a  meeting  that  evening  in  the  Court-house,  which,  not- 
withstanding the  shortness  of  the  notice,  was  crowded  to 
excess,  many  standing  without  for  want  of  room  in  the 
house ;  and  the  same  continued  the  case  for  three  succes- 
sive evenings.  One  clergyman  was  present  on  the  first 
evening;  two  on  the  second;  indeed,  during  my  journey 
hitherto,  one  or  more  clergymen  have  been  present  at  a 
majority  of  my  meetings;  and  although  I  have  usually,  in 
preaching,  taken  high  doctrinal  ground,  yet  has  it  in  no 
case  been  publicly  challenged;  1  hence  infer  that  the  di- 
vines of  the  South  are  not  remarkably  pugnacious.  More 
than  once  in  their  presence  have  I  declared,  that  no  one 
text  in  all  the  Bible  warrants  a  helief  in  endless  misery;  and 
have  offered  to  meet  any  intelligent  clergyman  in  a  public 
discussion  upon  that  issue;  but  no  response  1  no  public 
response,  at  least. 

The  town  plot  of  Holly  Springs  is  a  square  mile;  over 
which  is  scattered  a  population  of  two  thousand  souls;  the 
buildings  are  mere  temporary  cabins  or  shieldings,  of  logs, 
or  planks,  or  scantling,  or  all  combined;  thrown  up  in  a 
hurry,  a  great  hurry,  that  the  advantages  of  a  very  profit- 
able trade  with  the  Indians,  and  recently  settled  planters 
in  the  neighborhood,  might  be  seized  with  as  little  delay 
as  possible.  Great  anticipations  are  indulged  with  regard 
to  the  future  importance  of  the  town;  it  is  certainly  sur- 
rounded by  a  lovely  country — fertile,  beautiful  to  the  eye, 
and  well  watered. 

Feb.  4.  Visited  Ripley,  another  county  seat.  Had 
sent  on  an  appointment,  but  it  failed  of  reaching;  got  up, 
therefore,  a  meeting  in  a  hurry,  and,  as  usual  in  this 
region,  a  very  full  one. 

Feb.  5.  Put  up  for  the  night  at  a  bouse  of  entertain- 
ment thirty  miles  from  Ripley;  was  surprised,  on  taking 
up  a  solitary  book  from  the  mantlepiece,  to  find  it  The 
Life  of  Murray  !  in  the  heart  of  the  Chickasaw  nation. 
These  heretical  prints  insinuate  themselves  every  where. 

"  And  do  you  believe  in  the  religious  sentiments  of  this 
book?"  I  inquired  of  the  host. 

"  I  do,"  he  frankly  replied. 

O  tempore!  It  was  too  late  to  order  my  horse,  that  I 
might  fly  those  profane  precincts;  and  I  must  therefore  stay 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  209 

under  the  roof  of  a  Universalist.  The  old  gentleman 
declined  the  pay  for  my  entertainment :  right  glad,  he 
seemed,  of  the  opportunity  of  rendering  a  service  to  a 
herald  of  glad  tidings;  the  first  he  had  ever  seen. 

Feh.  6.  Reached  Pontotoc,  and  preached  in  the  evening 
to  at  least  two  hundred  hearers.  This  town  and  Holly 
Springs  are  rivals;  nearly  matched,  so  far  as  I  can  judge, 
in  every  respect;  this  at  present  is  the  larger  place  of  the 
two  :  the  government  land-office  is  located  here;  and  here, 
in  consequence,  is  the  grand  resort  of  land  speculators. 
The  Chickasaws  are  very  numerous  in  the  vicinity,  and 
may  at  all  times  be  seen  strolling  about  the  town.  I  passed 
many  of  their  habitations  yesterday  and  to-day.  I  wit- 
nessed this  morning  what  I  took  to  be  a  regular  affair  of 
Indian  courtship.  I  was  riding  along  in  a  muse,  when  I 
was  aroused  by  the  snorting  and  caprioling  of  my  horse, 
which  usually  keeps  a  sharp  look-out  for  objects  of  sus- 
picious appearance.  On  casting  my  eyes  about  for  the 
cause  of  its  uneasiness,  I  first  discovered  a  saddled  poney 
quietly  grazing  on  the  prairie  grass;  and  after  passing  a 
large  tree  which  stood  in  the  line  of  vision,  I  saw  the 
owner,  a  young  Indian  in  full  dress.  He  was  seated  on  a 
log;  and  close,  very  close  by  his  side,  sat  a  young  squaw; 
they  had  each  an  arm  around  the  other's  waist,  and  with 
the  other  hand  were  passing  a  rum-bottle  to  and  fro  in 
most  loving  alternation.  They  seemed  nowise  embar- 
rassed by  my  sudden  intrusion;  the  bottle  passed  from 
mouth  to  mouth  as  before ;  nor  was  the  afore-described 
embrace  in  the  least  relaxed.  Simple  children  of  nature; 
they  attach  no  idea  of  guilt  to  love,  and  why  should  they 
be  ashamed  of  it?  for  shame  is  the  offspring  of  guilt.  I 
never  before  was  so  struck  with  the  idea  of  the  probable 
happiness  of  these  children  of  the  forest,  when  this  entire 
and  vast  country  was  their  common  and  undisputed  hunt- 
ing-ground; they  were  then  strangers  to  the  insinuating 
demon  of  the  still;  there  was  no  gold  to  tempt  their  ava- 
rice, nor  white  man's  ingenious  methods  of  murder  to 
assist  them  in  exterminating  each  other  ;  the  noiseless 
arrow  brought  the  game  to  minister  to  their  necessities, 
and  the  skins  of  slaughtered  animals  served  them  for  their 
couch  at  night.  They  believed  in  a  Great  Spirit  whose 
word  was  thunder,  and  the  winds  amongst  the  forest  leaves 
were  the  bland  whisperings  of  his  voice. 

The  making  of  a  bill  in  this  country  is  an  easy  opera- 


210        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

tion.  'Twas  thus  I  heard  one  summed  up  :  "  Let  me  see; 
you  had  a  bushel  and  a  half  of  corn  for  your  oxen,  three 
dollars;  sixteen  pounds  of  pork,  at  twenty-five  cents  the 
pound,  four  dollars;  yourself  and  horse  over  night,  two 
dollars;  in  all,  nine  dollars." 

"A  pretty  round  charge,"  muttered  the  guest,  "for  corn 
bread  and  fried  crackling." 

I  thought  so  too;  but  I  have  since  paid  two  dollars  and 
a  half  for  a  night's  entertainment,  on  corn  bread  without 
butter,  and  fried  pork  without  sauce  of  any  kind;  and  cof- 
fee without  cream,  or  even  milk;  a  lodging,  I  may  add,  in 
correspondence,  on  a  bedstead  bottomed  with  wooden  slatts. 
But  never  mind  it,  brother,  these  things  serve  to  make  up 
the  variety  of  life ! 

Having  communicated  by  mail  an  appointment  for 
Springfield,  Alabama,  to  take  place  on  Sunday,  12th,  I  had 
to  use  great  diligence  in  traveling  over  the  intermediate 
ground,  to  be  able  to  fulfil  it.  In  three  days  and  a  half  I 
made  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  forty  miles,  an  aver- 
age distance  of  forty  miles  a  day;  which,  over  bad  roads, 
I  found  to  be  a  fatiguing  business  for  horse  and  rider.  On 
the  9th,  I  saw,  in  a  distance  of  forty-two  miles,  but  two 
human  habitations,  and  met  but  four  persons;  one  of  them 
a  mounted  Indian,  armed  with  bow  and  arrows  :  he  could 
talk  a  little  English.  He  was  in  chase  of  his  hogs,  which 
from  running  at  large  on  the  prairie  had  become  wild,  and 
had  unaccountably  forgotten  their  obligation  to  go  home 
and  have  their  throats  stuck  in  due  season;  a  most  flagrant 
infraction  of  the  implied  compact  between  them  and  their 
owner.  But  as  the  Indian  had  not  forgotten  his  claim,  if  the 
porkers  had,  it  is  probable  that  the  matter  is  duly  adjusted 
between  the  parties  by  this  time.  I  traversed,  on  the  same 
day,  a  most  beautiful  prairie.  I  do  not  know  its  dimen- 
sions, but  it  occupied  me  some  four  or  five  hours.  The 
weather  was  delightfully  fine,  and  the  boundless  prospect 
of  grassy  plain,  on  which  the  rim  of  the  vast  blue  con- 
cavity above  me  seemed  to  rest,  was  adapted  to  awaken 
sensations  of  a  grand  and  novel  character.  I  arrived  that 
night  at  a  small  village  on  the  Tombigbee  river,  about  ten 
miles  below  the  head  of  steamboat  navigation. 

Feh.  10.  Passed  through  Columbus, on  the  same  river; 
a  commercial  looking  town,  containing  many  fine  and  sub- 
stantial buildings  ;  but  nevertheless,  in  the  midst  of  a 
rather  barren  pine  country.     I  crossed  into  Alabama  on 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  211 

the  same  day,  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles  below 
its  northern  boundary,  and  put  up  for  the  night  at  Pickens- 
ville,  twenty-three  miles  below  Columbus,  on  the  Tombig- 
bee  river. 


Feb.  15.  I  am  now  at  Chiles'  Ferry,  on  Black  Warrior 
river,  which  is  navigable  for  steamboats  up  to  Tuscaloosa, 
the  capital  of  the  State,  several  miles  above  here.  On 
arriving  last  night,  I  found  to  my  great  mortification,  that 
the  letter  containing  my  appointment,  had  not  come  to 
hand;  and  I  had  therefore  fatigued  myself  and  horse  al- 
most to  death,  to  no  purpose.  And  must  I  then  lose  the 
day?  I  resolved  to  the  contrary,  and  you  shall  know  the 
resul;.  Being  informed  of  a  friend  near  Clinton,  twelve 
miles  off,  who  would  interest  himself  in  getting  up  a  meet- 
ing there,  I  mounted  my  jaded  horse,  myself  no  less  so, 
and  to  see  this  friend  I  started;  pleasing  myself  with  the 
idea  that  I  should  yet  succeed  in  improving  a  portion  of 
the  day  :  but  alas!  the  event  proved  that  I  was  doomed  to 
disappointment.  First,  On  reaching  Clinton,  I  found  my 
friend  lived  yet  five  miles  farther.  Second,  After  pain- 
fully plodding  over  this  additional  distance,  and  arriving  at 
the  house  of  my  friend,  I  received  the  delightful  intelli- 
gence that  he  was  from  home,  at  Mobile.  But  this  was 
not  the  worst;  for,  Third,  His  lady,  to  my  misfortune, 
proved  a  pious  woman,  and  therefore,  as  she  doubtless  con- 
ceived, under  no  obligation  to  be  kind,  or  even  courteous 
to  a  heretic.  I  introduced  myself  to  her;  told  her  the  ob- 
ject of  my  visit  to  see  her  husband,  and  of  my  extreme 
fatigue.  She  heard  all  this  with  the  cheering  warmth  of 
an  icicle,  and  failed  to  extend  toward  me  the  least  approach 
toward  a  welcome,  even  to  the  small  favor  of  a  night's  re- 
freshment for  myself  and  horse!  If  one  of  her  negroes 
should  be  as  inhoipitably  treated  by  my  family,  in  my 
absence,  I  should  consider  my  house  disgraced.  What  a 
thing  it  is  to  be  pious  at  the  expense  of  a  decent  regard  to 
the  common  obligations  of  life. 

The  banks  of  the  Black  Warrior,  are  at  this  stage  of  the 
river,  more  than  forty  feet  above  the  water.  Will  the 
reader  credit  the  statement  that  these  banks  are  ever 
overflowed?  yet  they  often  are;  and,  in  places,  the  shores 
are  flooded  for  miles  back;  so  great  and  rapid  is  the  flux 
of  waters.  A  steamboat  is  a  singular  spectacle  on  one  of 
these  streams,  which  are  so  narrow,  that  if  one  of  the  tall 


212        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

pines  on  its  banks  were  over-blown,  its  top  would  possibly 
lodge  on  the  opposite  bank. 

There  is  much  complaint  in  this  country  of  the  general 
indifference  to  the  subject  of  religion  ;  and,  indeed,  to 
every  other  subject  unconnected  with  dollars,  negroes,  and 
cotton  bales.  I  suspect  there  is  some  ground  for  the  com- 
plaint. Reading  seems  in  a  great  measure  neglected,  be- 
cause— I  know  of  no  other  reason — it  does  not  effect  a 
larger  growth  of  cotton :  the  high  price  for  this  staple 
seems  wonderfully  to  have  enlarged  the  acquisitive  organ 
in  the  planters. 

There  prevails  in  many  parts  of  this  country  much  con- 
tractedness  of  feeling — much  servility  of  spirit — much 
jealous  espionage  and  timid  apprehensions  of  being  seen 
by  each  other  in  acts  which  will  subject  them  to  church 
censure;  all  this,  too,  in  independent  planters  !  sons  of 
America!  possessing  such  undoubted  natural  and  constitu- 
tional charters  for  freedom  I  O  fie!  their  own  slaves  ex- 
perience a  lighter  bondage !  I  had  hoped  for  a  different 
state  of  things  in  a  country  whose  inhabitants  are  circum- 
stanced to  be  less  dependent  on  each  other,  than  are  the 
small  farmers,  and  manufacturers,  and  mechanics  of  the 
North. 

The  last  evening  of  my  stay  at  Mr.  Chiles'  was  render- 
ed interesting  by  the  fact,  that  I  had  an  opportunity  for 
conversing  at  large,  on  the  glorious  subject  of  a  world's 
salvation  through  Christ  Jesus,  with  a  numerous  company 
of  planters  who  tarried  there  over  night,  waiting  for  a  de- 
scending boat  on  which  to  put  their  cotton  for  the  Mobile 
market.  They  seemed  to  listen  with  eagerness,  and  con- 
tented themselves  with  merely  putting  such  questions  as 
were  adapted  to  elicit  farther  developments  of  my  views. 
I  hope  my  labors  of  that  evening  were  not  thrown  away; 
on  one  indiridual  I  am  satisfied  they  were  not.  He  is  a 
wealthy  and  influential  elderly  gentleman;  his  wife  is  a 
zealous  member  of  an  orthodox  church,  of  which  he,  on 
her  account,  is  the  main  support  in  his  neighborhood  He 
has  a  camp-ground  on  his  premises  which  is  brought  into 
requisition  every  summer,  and  his  elegant  mansion  is  the 
preachers'  home.  In  the  early  part  of  the  evening  re- 
ferred to,  no  one  of  the  company  manifested  more  opposi- 
tion to  my  doctrine  than  he,  but  it  weakened  and  weaken- 
ed by  degrees,  until  it  became,  I  flatter  myself,  entirely 
subdued.    We  traveled  in  company  the  next  day  for  twenty- 


OF  A  UNIVEESALIST  PREACHER.  213 

five  miles,  still  continuing  to  converse  on  the  theme,  and 
on  parting  I  received  an  urgent  invitation  to  visit  him  at 
his  house,  and  he  became  the  bearer  of  an  appointment  at 
Selma,  (the  nearest  town  to  his  plantation,)  which  I  made 
at  his  instance. 

Feb.  16.  Arrived  a  few  hours  before  sun-set  at  the 
flourishing  town  of  Greensborough;  hitched  my  horse  to 
a  post,  and  commenced  adventures  toward  a  meeting  for 
the  evening,  and  made,  it  must  be  allowed,  a  most  lucky 
commencement:  I  accosted  the  keeper  of  the  first  store 
into  which  1  stepped.  "  I  am  a  Universalist  preacher,  sir: 
do  you  know  of  any  room  in  the  place  to  which  I  could 
have  access,  for  the  purpose  of  a  meeting  this  evening  ?" 
"  Yes  sir,  I  know  of  one,  if  you  will  accept  of  it.  It  is 
pleasant,  and  well  situated.  I  mean  the  theatre  in  this 
town."  "  I  will  accept,  sir,  of  a7iy  place — truth  is  truth, 
no  matter  where  communicated — and  to  whom  shall  I  ap- 
ply for  its  use?  "  "I  have  control  of  it,  sir,  and  will  engage 
to  have  it  opened  for  you."  "And  lighted  too?"  "Yes 
sir."  I  thanked  him,  and  forthwith  wrote  an  advertise- 
ment, which  he  procured  a  boy — male  negroes  of  all  ages, 
are  boys  in  this  country — to  carry  through  the  town.  So 
far,  all  was  right.  I  next  ventured  to  inquire,  "  Do  you 
know,  sir,  of  any  believer  of  my  doctrine  in  the  place, 
who  would  be  likely  to  entertain  myself  and  horse  over 
the  night?"  "I  really  do  not,  sir;  but, if  you  can  put  up 
with  such  fare  as  I  can  afford,  you  shall  be  entirely  wel- 
come."    Thus  was  all  satisfactorily  settled  in  five  minutes. 

Well,  the  theatre  was  handsomely  lighted,  and  notwith- 
standing that  the  night  was  inclement,  the  meeting  was  re- 
spectably attended.  My  stand  was  on  the  stage  in  front  of 
the  drop-curtain;  and  never  surely  stood  a  speaker  there, 
whose  voice,  and  manner,  and  attitudes  were  less  adapted 
for  stage  effect  upon  an  audience.  Happily  I  had  no  thrill- 
ing horrors  to  relate,  "whose  lightest  word  would  harrow 
up  the  soul,  freeze  the  young  blood;  and  make  every 
particular  hair  to  stand  on  end,  like  quills  upon  the  fretful 
porcupine."  Mine  was  a  mild  message  of  gospel  mercy, 
and  needed  no  "  stare  and  start  theatric  "  to  give  it  effect. 

Feb.  17.  Rode  to  Marion,  Perry  county,  a  remark- 
ably neat  county  town,  possessing  several  features  of  a 
yankee  village,  all  honestly  come  by;  for  it  has  been 
partly  built  under  yankee  supervision.  Here  were  my 
eyes  greeted  by  the  first  painted  meeting-house  spire  that 


tl4         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

I  had  seen  in  several  hundred  miles  travel,  and  the  first 
regular  market-house  1  had  seen  since  leaving  Louisville. 
I  must  not  be  thought  foolish  for  my  minuteness  in  notic- 
ing such  things;  for,  let  any  one  travel  for  months  as  I 
had  done,  through  a  country  utterly  destitute  of  such  em- 
bellishments, and  then,  on  renewing  his  acquaintance  with 
them,  if  he  has  any  poetry  in  his  nature,  he  will  be  en- 
raptured too.  I  called  on  Mr.  L.  and  I.  Upson,  who  are 
eastern  men;  with  them  I  truly  felt  myself  at  home;  and 
oh!  how  much  good  it  did  me  to  hear  myself  called  bro- 
ther Rogers  once  more!  Eight  hundred  miles  and  more 
had  I  traveled,  without  having  been  so  greeted!  The 
Upsons  are  nearly  alone  in  point  of  religious  faith ;  they 
have  however,  and  deservedly,  a  good  share  of  influence; 
and  will,  I  think,  not  be  long  alone.  I  delivered  three 
discourses  there,  to  rather  small  and  exclusively  male  au- 
diences. Since  leaving  home  I  had  not  before  addressed 
an  audience  of  this  character,  and  I  scolded  a  little  upon 
this  ground,  at  Marion.  Whether  I  showed  good  sense  in 
scolding  the  gentlemen  for  the  absence  of  the  ladies,  1 
care  not  to  have  decided;  but  really  I  don't  like  to  be 
treated  as  if  I  were  a  traveling  philosopher,  who  taught 
matters  too  high  for  female  comprehension  or  unconnected 
with  female  interests. 

I  attended  church,  as  a  hearer,  on  Sunday  morning,  and 
heard  a  pretty  ingenious  discourse,  in  which  it  was  at- 
tempted to  level  the  mysteries  of  Calvinistic  atonement  to 
human  comprehension,  and  to  vindicate  it  to  human  rea- 
son. A  forlorn  hope!  Said  system,  when  stripped  of  the 
verbiage  in  which  it  is  usually  concealed,  is  as  follows: 
God  from  all  eternity  determined  that  men  should  trans- 
gress his  law;  he  determined  that  his  own  wrath  should 
thereupon  be  infinitely  aroused,  and  that  he  would  doom 
the  offenders  and  their  whole  posterity  to  ceaseless  ruin, 
for  daring  to  sin  in  accordance  with  his  own  predetermina- 
tion. He  determined  to  consent  to  accept  of  an  innocent 
substitute  on  whom  to  pour  his  wrath,  instead  of  guilty 
man.  To  cap  the  climax  of  incongruities,  this  substitute 
was  himself.  He  bore  his  own  vrrath!  pacified  his  own 
displeasure!  and  rendered  satisfaction  to  himself!  But 
still,  no  intelligible  object  was  answered,  so  far  as  the  re- 
probate is  concerned,  since  it  is  said,  he  yet  holds  him  ac- 
countable for  his  offences,  both  original  and  actual,  as 
though  satisfaction  for  the  same  had  not  been  rendered! 


OF  A  UNIYERSALIST  PREACHER.  215 

I  shall  not,  reader,  detain  you  at  Marion,  to  recount 
how,  on  the  first  night  of  my  stay,  1  was  made  to  feel  very 
much  at  home,  while  I  cracked  nuts  and  drank  cider  in 
the  bosom  of  a  yankee  family  in  Alabama.  You  would 
think  me  moon-struck,  if  I  attempted  to  entertain  you 
with  such  trifles;  besides,  it  may  be  that  you  are  not 
aware  that  nuts,  and  apples,  and  cider,  are  not  such  com- 
mon-place refections  in  this  region,  as  where  you  may 
chance  to  live.  So  I  will  dismiss  the  subject,  to  save  you 
from  the  heinous  sin  of  dismissing  this  chapter  unread, 
by  which,  let  me  tell  you,  you  would  be  much  the  loser, 
and  shall  invite  you  onward  with  me  in  the  journey. 

Feh.  27.  I  am  now  at  General  Brantly's,  whose 
wife  is  one  of  the  most  zealous,  rejoicing,  and  practical 
Universalists  I  know  of ;  a  beam  of  gladness  lighted  up 
her  features  so  soon  as  I  had  introduced  myself.  "I  must 
take  your  hand,"  said  she;  "I  didn't  know  that  I  should 
see  another  gospel  preacher."  I  preached  yesterday  in 
what  is  termed  the  Shady  Grove  Meeting-house,  in  this 
neighborhood.  A  good  audience  was  in  attendance;  but 
from  two  causes  the  meeting  was  not  agreeable.  Firsts 
By  a  sudden  change  the  weather  had  become  cold;  and 
meeting-houses  in  this  region,  in  the  country,  are  the 
most  comfortless  houses  imaginable;  completely  open  to 
the  weather  on  all  sides.  Second,  "Certain  lewd  fellows, 
of  the  baser  sort,"  evinced  their  lack  of  sense  by  their 
lack  of  decency;  they  had  recourse  to  several  means  of 
annoyance,  and  afforded  a  beautiful  illustration  of  that  oft- 
repeated  orthodox  truth,  that  ^^sinners  love  Universalismy 
However,  there  are  several  highly  respected  friends  to 
the  cause  in  this  neighborhood,  who,  without  doubt,  would 
liberally  sustain  the  stated  ministration  of  the  gospel  here. 
The  Shady  Grove  meeting-house  is  but  nine  miles  from 
Selma. 

Selma  is  a  neat  village,  immediately  on  the  Alabama 
river,  fifty  miles  below  Montgomery.  That  river  is  navi- 
gable at  all  seasons,  and  is  truly  a  beautiful  stream.  The 
white  buildings  of  the  villages  in  this  region,  contrast 
pleasantly  with  the  ever-green  foliage  of  the  pines.  And 
while  on  the  subject  of  buildings,  I  must  pay  a  just  tri- 
bute of  praise  to  Alabama  architecture.  It  embraces  more 
variety  than  that  of  any  part  of  the  western  country 
which  I  have  seen.    No  hiug  is  so  tedious  there,  as  the  un- 


216        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

varying  sameness  of  the  dwellings;  all  appear  to  have 
been  erected  by  the  same  architect;  and  he  it  would  seem, 
was  afraid  that  oraamental  decorations  would  impair  the 
simple  nudity  of  his  style.  It  is  not  the  case  here ;  there 
is  a  pleasing  variety,  and  most  of  the  specimens  are  in 
good  taste;  it  has  happened  to  me,  however,  to  travel 
through  the  best  part  of  the  State  for  seeing  it  to  advan- 
tage,  in  this  and  many  other  respects. 

In  Selma  I  found  but  one  professed  Universalist,  the 
wife  of  Dr.  Grigsby;  it  is  but  feeble  praise  to  say  of  her, 
that  she  is  well  adapted  to  do  the  profession  honor.  Her 
station  in  society  gives  her  influence,  and  she  needs  no 
prompting  in  order  to  the  using  that  influence  aright.  I 
delivered  three  discourses  in  the  Presbyterian  church,  to 
very  attentive  audiences.  The  Presbyterian  clergyman 
attended  two  evenings.  The  Methodist  minister,  I  believe, 
attended  all  three. 

Montgomery  is  the  most  considerable  interior  town  in 
the  State.  Tuscaloosa,  the  capital,  is  probably  destined  to 
that  distinction  at  some  future  date,  but  the  former  exceeds 
it  at  present,  both  in  size  and  commercial  importance  :  it 
has  a  population  of  about  three  thousand  souls;  very 
christian  souls  too,  if  a  judgment  may  be  formed  on  that 
head,  from  the  number  of  its  churches,  which  is  seven; 
but  from  what  I  could  gather,  religion  is  at  a  low  ebb  in 
them  all.  This  may  be  mainly  owing  to  the  fact,  that  a 
large  part  of  the  population  desert  the  place  in  the  sum- 
mer season,  on  account  of  its  unhealthiness,  considering 
themselves  as  but  transitory  residents,  whose  object  is  to 
acquire  a  fortune  in  the  least  possible  time,  and  repair  to 
some  favored  abode  in  order  to  enjoy  it :  they  therefore  do 
not  feel  a  deep  interest  in  any  establishment  of  a  perma- 
nent character  in  the  place,  and  one  among  other  conse- 
quences is,  that  the  churches  languish  in  almost  total 
neglect. 

The  Universalist  church  in  Montgomery  is  a  neat  and 
tasteful  fabric,  surmounted  with  a  steeple  and  bell,  and 
furnished  with  an  excellent  organ.  It  was  gotten  up,  how- 
ever, and  entirely  supported  by  about  three  individuals, 
two  of  whom,  Majors  Wood  and  Cowles,  live,  the  one  seven 
and  the  other  four  miles  out  of  the  town.  It  might  have 
been  foreseen,  methinks,  that  it  could  not  live  long  under 
such  circumstances. 

I'he  situation  of  Montgomery  is  at  the  confluence  of  the 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  217 

Tallapoosa  and  Coosa  rivers,  which  at  this  point  of  junc- 
tion form  the  Alabama.  A  noble  stream  is  that  same  Ala- 
bama; navigable  in  all  stages  of  water  for  boats  of  a  large 
class;  many  of  the  lands  which  it  intersects  are  very  fine, 
yielding  that  costly  staple,  cotton,  in  great  abundance,  and 
affording  ample  wealth  to  the  prudent  portion  of  the 
planters  in  a  few  years.  Several  of  these  live  in  prince- 
ly state;  their  elegant  mansions,  finely  shaded  grounds, 
and  beautiful  gardens,  give  evidence  of  the  taste  and  mu- 
nificence of  the  owners.  Nevertheless,  as  an  offset  against 
these  advantages,  added  to  that  of  a  very  mild  climate  in 
the  winter,  it  must  be  stated  that  Death  has  here  erected 
one  of  his  favorite  summer  seats,  and  never  fails  to  give 
most  desolating  manifestations  of  his  presence  to  such  of 
the  residents  as  have  the  temerity  to  abide  his  coming. 
Were  it  otherwise  this  lower  country  could  not  have  failed, 
ere  now,  to  attract  to  itself  a  dense  population,  such  are 
its  advantages  of  fertility  and  temperature;  but  taking  all 
things  together,  nature  has  every  where  about  equally 
distributed  her  smiles  and  frowns,  and  there  is  no  very 
decided  preference  to  be  given  to  any  one  part  of  the 
world  above  all  the  rest.  Of  this  fact  1  become  the  more 
convinced  as  I  travel  the  more.  Why  else  is  it  that  the 
Bedouin  of  the  desert  is  unwilling  to  exchange  his  burning 
and  barren  solitudes  for  the  more  soft  and  fertile  seats 
of  fixed  and  civilized  existence?  And  why  cannot  the 
dweller  among  the  eternal  snows  of  the  arctic  circle  be 
induced  to  migrate  to  milder  latitudes,  where  he  can  feast 
his  eyes  with  sights  of  nature  in  her  most  attractive  robe 
of  green? 

The  Sabbath  I  spent  in  Montgomery,  was  to  me  a  very 
disagreeable  day.  I  preached  three  sermons;  and,  there 
being  no  family  of  Universalists  in  the  town,  I  had  no 
place  to  which  to  resort  during  the  intervals  but  the  bar- 
room of  one  of  the  public  houses.  On  the  day  previous  I 
had  the  gratification  to  witness  the  passage,  through  the 
town  to  their  encampment  a  few  miles  below,  of  about  two 
thousand  Creek  Indians,  with  all  their  moveables;  some 
were  in  wagons,  some  on  horseback;  but  the  most  of  the 
adults  were  afoot;  and  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  the 
latter  class,  I  thought  I  had  never  beheld  so  many  chil- 
dren. The  Creeks  are  an  ill-looking  race.  I  should  so 
have  deemed  them,  I  think,  if  th^  had  not  been  recently 
engaged  in  murderous  hostility  against  the  whites;  but 
15 


218         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

with  the  knowledge  of  this  fact  present  to  mind  it  is  pro- 
bable they  appeared  to  worse  advantage;  and  it  is  alsa 
probable,  that  feeling  themselves  to  be  a  vanquished,  op- 
pressed, and  degraded  people,  under  sentence  of  banish- 
ment from  their  homes  and  fathers'  graves,  and  escorted 
by  a  guard  of  mounted  riflemen  in  van  and  rear;  it  is; 
probable  I  say,  that  under  these  circumstances  they  ex- 
hibited themselves  under  the  worst  possible  aspects.  Be 
this  as  it  may,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  they  compare  very 
disadvantageously  with  both  the  Chickasaws  and  the  Choc- 
taws,  in  their  costume  as  well  as  personal  appearance. 

About  sixteen  miles  from  Montgomery,  across  the  Coosa 
river,  is  a  neighborhood  which  bears  the  name  of  Mount 
Olympus,  where  is  a  little  Universalist  society,  which 
meets  for  religious  worship  statedly  on  the  first  Sunday  in 
each  month.  Mr.  Atkins  resides  there,  and  preaches  for 
them  on  those  occasions :  he  is  very  highly  esteemed 
amongst  them,  and  by  his  neighbors  of  every  class:  he 
was  formerly  a  Methodist,  and  the  main  supp(ort  of  that 
church  in  the  same  neighborhood.  Mrs.  Mitchel  is  a 
warm-hearted  sister,  indeed;  known  as  a  notable  Univer- 
salist, so  far  as  she  is  known  at  all,  and  her  whole  family 
4jid  connexions  are  subjects  of  the  same  faith. 

There  is  a  free  colored  man,  who  with  his  family,  are 
members  of  the  Mt.  Olympus  society;  the  first  Universal- 
ist person  of  color  I  had  ever  seen;  for  the  African  race 
are  in  general  very  ignorant,  and  prone  to  superstition. 
"They  all  believe  in  endless  misery,"  said  an  old  gentle- 
man to  me — himself  a  wealthy  slave-holder — "  for  the  rea- 
son, I  suppose,  that  they  want  their  masters  damned,  and 
think  it  would  be  hardly  fair  dealing  to  make  them  as 
happy  as  their  negroes  in  the  next  world." 

The  colored  person  of  whom  1  am  speaking,  is  a  man  of 
very  considerable  intelligence;  of  industrious,  prudent 
habits,  and  much  respected :  he  told  me  he  was  decidedly 
opposed  to  the  measures  of  the  abolitionists,  and  that  he 
regarded  the  slavery  of  the  African  race  in  the  light  of  a 
providential  visitation  upon  them  for  their  barbarous  and 
unnatural  conduct  toward  each  other  in  the  parent  country; 
that,  like  all  the  divine  dispensations,  it  will  have  a  be- 
nevolent issue;  at  some  future  day  they  will  be  restored 
from  their  captivity,  and  carry  home  with  them  the  lessons 
in  religion,  civilization,  etc.,  which  they  have  learned. 
He  approves  of  the  colonizatio'n  measures,  and  remarked 


OF   A   TJOTVERSALIST   PREACHER.  219 

that  he  would  himself  emigrate  to  Liberia,  but  for  the  fear 
that  the  colony  there  being  strongly  sectarian  in  its  cha- 
racter, would  not  comport  with  his  enjoyment  of  the  rights 
of  conscience. 

Wetumpka  is  at  the  head  of  navigation  on  the  Coosa 
river,  fourteen  miles  above  Montgomery;  it  is  built  on 
both  sides  of  the  river,  and  is  a  fast  improving  place. 
Present  population  about  two  thousand.  The  Baptist  min- 
ister there  had  promised  my  friends  that  I  should  occupy 
his  church,  on  the  condition  that  he  should  have  the  lib- 
erty of  making  remarks  upon  my  sermon.  Accordingly, 
as  I  wished  to  give  him  a  fair  opportunity,  I  hurried 
through  my  first  discourse  in  thirty  minutes,  that  he  might 
have  ample  time  for  oppugning  my  positions,  if  he  was 
capable.  But  it  proved  that  a  heavy  thunder-shower 
which  occurred  at  the  time  of  collecting  for  the  meeting, 
had  prevented  his  attendance;  it  had  not,  however,  pre- 
vented a  pretty  respectable  number  from  assembling.  The 
next  night  being  fair,  the  audience  was  much  larger;  the 
clergyman  was  present,  and  succeeded  me  in  a  long  — 
I  was  going  to  say — reply;  but  such  it  certainly  could  not 
properly  be  termed;  it  was  rather  a  rhapsody,  a  rigmarole 
ad  cap  tandum :  he  disavowed  all  purpose  of  controversy, 
and  peremptorily  interdicted  a  syllabic  by  way  of  rejoinder. 
On  the  third  evening,  I  preached  on  the  other  side  of  the 
river  to  a  crowded  assembly.  On  the  fourth,  Saturday 
evening,  as  I  was  about  dismissing  the  audience,  the  Bap- 
tist minister  arose,  and  reminding  me  of  a  declaration  I 
had  made  in  a  previous  discourse,  i.  e,  that  I  could  estab- 
lish the  correctness  of  my  views  concerning  the  closing 
paragraph  of  the  twenty-fifth  of  Matthew,  by  such  evi- 
dence as  would  settle  any  question  in  a  court  of  justice; 
said  he  would  give  me  one  hundred  dollars  if  I  would  make 
my  declaration  good,  I  told  him  I  accepted  his  terms,  and 
inquired  when  it  would  suit  him  to  have  it  done;  he  named 
the  next  evening,  and  I  made  the  appointment  accordingly, 

Sunday  forenoon  I  preached  in  the  Episcopalian  church, 
and  notwithstanding  the  other  meetings  in  town,  the  seats 
were  all  filled.  In  the  evening  it  was  crowded  to  excess, 
so  much  so  indeed,  that — being  an  upstairs  apartment — 
there  was  danger  of  the  joists  giving  way;  I  began  to  feel 
alarmed  for  the  audience.  At  length,  on  the  iTiotion  of 
the  Baptist  clergyman,  we  transferred  the  meeting  to  his 
church,  which  was   larger  and  more  closely  seated.     No- 


220         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

thing  could  exceed  the  attentive  interest  with  which  I  was 
listened  to  by  that  large  assembly,  while  I  attempted  to 
show,  by  evidence  sufficient  to  settle  any  question  in  a 
court  of  justice,  that  the  coming  of  Christ,  referred  to  in 
the  twenty-fifth  of  Matthew,  was  an  event  of  past  occur- 
rence, instead  of  being  yet  to  take  place  as  the  popular 
scholiasts  pretend.  When  I  had  finished,  the  Baptist  min- 
ister succeeded  me,  in  an  harange — it  really  was  nothing 
more.  I  wish,  too,  to  speak  of  it  in  mild  terms;  but  truly, 
and  sincerely,  it  had  scarcely  any  preceptible  relation  to 
my  discourse,  any  more  than  the  head  of  the  man  in  the 
moon  has  to  a  treatise  on  craniology.  He  sketched  us  a 
history  of  his  past  life,  and  the  disadvantage  under  which 
he  baud  prosecuted  his  theological  studies,  etc.,  etc.,  with 
an  evident  view  to  enlist  the  sympathy  of  his  hearers 
rather  than  to  convince  their  understandings.  1  deemed 
it  superfluous  to  occupy  more  than  ten  minutes  in  a  re- 
joinder. Calling  the  attention  of  the  audience  to  the  fact 
that  my  opponent  had  advanced  nothing  which  in  the  least 
affected  my  arguments;  and  reminding  them  that  I  had 
calmly  addressed  myself  to  their  common  sense,  in  a  man- 
ner which  implied  that  I  did  not  wish  to  beg  a  favorable 
verdict  from  their  sympathies;  I  then  intimated  a  wish  to 
know  if  they  thought  me  entitled  to  the  hundred  dollars, 
and  the  house  instantaneously  resounded  with  a  favorable 
response;  it  would  not  be  too  much  to  say  that  the  voices 
of  seven-eighths  of  the  congregation  united  in  that  ex- 
pression. 

I  have  reason  to  believe  that  I  left  many  friends  and 
well-wishers  to  our  cause  in  Wetumpka,  and  that  with  pru- 
dent and  persevering  exertions  it  might  be  permanently 
established  there.  The  most  of  the  inhabitants  are  enter- 
prising and  intelligent;  the  town  is  destined  to  be  a  place 
of  much  trading  importance,  being  at  the  head  of  naviga- 
tion, and  as  it  is  in  the  vicinity  of  a  hilly  region,  its 
climate  is  probably  more  healthful  than  that  of  Mont- 
gomery. 


My  return  tour  in  detail  would  needs  be  dull,  for  it 
was  extremely  barren  of  incident.  About  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  of  the  way  from  Wetumpka  to  Huntsville 
was  through  a  poor  and  wilderness  country,  mostly  sandy 
and  mountainous,  almost  wholly  devoid  of  objects  to  in- 
terest the  traveler;  except  at  a  point  where  the  road  very 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  221 

closely  approaches  the  deep,  deep  bed  of  the  Big  Warren 
river,  which  has  cloven  for  itself  a  passage  through  what 
is  termed  the  Sand  Mountain.  The  scene  is  there  so 
grand,  that  I  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  dismount 
and  survey  it  at  leisure.  I  crept  to  the  verge  of  a  mas- 
sive rock,  which  beetled  over  the  perpendicular  sides  of 
the  gulf,  which,  for  its  depth,  seemed  very  narrow;  and 
this,  indeed,  added  to  the  picturesqueness  of  the  prospect. 
The  current  of  the  river  is  very  rapid,  and  its  bed  being 
extremely  rocky,  it  sends  up  a  continual  roar  from  its  depth 
of  more  than  two  hundred  feet.  Its  beauty  is  also  greatly 
aided  by  its  various  aspect,  generally  a  deep  blue,  but 
here  black,  as  reflecting  the  shadow  of  a  beetling  ledge, 
and  there  a  foamy  white,  as  it  rushes  onward  amongst 
protruding  rocks. 

I  was  interested  likewise  with  the  scenery,  as  I  de- 
scended by  a  winding  road  into  the  valley  of  the  Tennes- 
see river.  It  was  about  sun-setting  when  I  got  down;  the 
descent  is  probably  some  thousand  feet;  the  valley  lay  in 
deep  shadow,  and  still  as  the  grave  in  its  solitude.  Three 
miles  brought  me  to  the  river's  verge,  and  then  for  a  mile 
or  more  the  road  run  along  it  to  the  ferry,  known  as 
Ditto's  Landing,  which  I  did  not  reach  till  some  time  after 
dark.  I  had  the  mortification  to  find  the  ferry-house  was 
on  the  opposite  shore — ferry-houses  are  always  on  the  oppo- 
site shore  of  all  rivers.  I  knew  therefore  that  at  least  a 
half  hour  must  elapse  ere  I  could  get  over.  I  had  traveled 
forty-four  miles  that  day,  and  was  tired  and  hungry,  and 
my  poor  horse,  I  suspect,  was  more  so.  I  hallooed  as  loud 
as  I  could,  and  supposing  myself  heard,  I  sat  down  on  a 
bank  of  earth  to  await  the  boat  at  my  ease.  My  horse 
stood  by  me,  with  his  nose  on  my  lap,  in  which  condition 
we  both  got  to  dozing;  how  long  our  doze  lasted  I  know 
not.  Arousing,  at  length,  I  strained  my  ear  to  listen  for 
the  coming  flat-boat,  but  could  hear  nothing  of  it;  renewed 
my  hallooing,  and  began  to  bethink  me  how  it  would  seem 
to  take  our  lodging  there  for  the  night;  was  not  much 
smitten  with  the  idea,  so  I  yelled  again  and  again;  and,  to 
make  the  matter  short,  got  over,  at  length,  in  about  an 
hour  from  the  time  of  my  arrival.  The  Tennessee,  even 
here,  four  hundred  miles  from  its  mouth,  is  a  large  stream, 
seven  hundred  yards  in  breadth,  and  is  navigable  up  to 
Knoxville,    which   is   several    hundred   miles   above,      I 


222  EXPERIENCE,    LABOKS,    AlSfB  TRAVELS 

should  not  think  a  residence  on  its  shores  desirable  •   they 
are  in  genral  very  flat  and  marshy. 

Hiintsville  is  ten  miles  from  Ditto's  Landings  the  road 
thither,  and  indeed,  beyond,  to  the  line  which  divides  Ala- 
bama fTom  Tenaessee,  which  is  distant  thirty-two  miles, 
runs  through  a  fine  cotton  country^  very  level,  and  under 
extremely  good  cultivation.  I  say  extremely  good;  the  ad- 
verb is  piroperly  applied;  whether  the  adjective  is,  is. 
doubtful,  for  the  land  has  that  yellowish  aspect  which 
shows  it  to  have  been  nearly  farmed  to  death.  No  rest  for 
cotton-lands  when  the  article  is  selling  at  fifteen  or  sixteen 
cents  the  pound;  for  how  can  the  planter  forego  for  one 
year  the  raising  of  a  crop  which  will  bring  from  twenty 
to  forty  thousand  dollars  to  his  pocket?  Such  sums  are 
actually  often  realized  in  a  single  season!* 

Did  not  preach  in  Huntsville;  the  town  was  up  to  its  ears 
in  shows,  circuses,  caravans,  etc.,  and  the  Southerners  are 
far  from  indifferent  to  such  things.  I  fouad  them  in  near- 
ly every  town  through  which  I  passed  on  my  return  route, 
which  prevented  my  holding  many  meetings.  Huntsville 
is  a  large  and  charmingly  situated  town;  its  population 
may  be  about  three  thousand;  several  of  its  buildings  are 
large  and  elegant.  The  distance  thence  to  Nashville  is 
one  hundred  and  ten  miles,  through  a  limestone,,  but  gen- 
erally very  broken  and  rugged  country;  it  greatly  im- 
proves, however,  as  you  approximate  to  the  latter  place.^ 
A  finer  location  than  Nashville  enjoys,  cannot  well  be  ima- 
gined :  it  is  a  cedar  hill,  of  something  more  than  moderate 
elevation,  possibly  two  hundred  feet  from  its  base  to  its 
apex,  the  inclination  being  very  gradual  on  all  sides;  con- 
sequently a  fine  view  is  obtainable  from  its  summit  of  the 
whole  surrounding  region.  1  know  no  reason  why  Nash- 
ville should  not  grow  to  a  magnitude  equal  to  Louisville. 
The  Cumberland  river,  on  which  it  stands,  is  truly  a  noble 
stream,  and  that  far  navigable  for  boats  of  a  large  class; 
the  hills  which  shadow  themselves  on  its  surface  are  preg- 
nant with  iron,  and  if,  also,  with  the  proper  fuel  for  smelt- 
ing it,  this  might  prove  an  immense  source  of  greatness 
to  Nashville. 

Ex-President  Jackson's  return  to  Nashville,  took  place 
while  I  was  there,  amidst  a  roar  of  cannon  and  musketry, 

*Not  of  late,  however,  since  cotton  has  fallen  to  six  cents  per 
pound. 


«0F  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  223 

the  ringing  of  bells,  and  the  huzzas  of  the  populace. 
There  was  no  mistaking  him  amongst  the  crowd  on  the 
boat,  as  it  slowly  glided  up  the  river  toward  the  landing; 
his  venerable  appearance  and  time-whitened  head  made 
him  a  conspicuous  object,  as  he  stood  waving  his  hat  in 
answer  to  the  greeting  from  the  shore.  None  farther 
than  I  from  being  a  political  partizan,  eitlier  for  or  against 
the  General;  but,  1  confess,  as  he  walked  from  the  boat  to 
the  carriage,  leaning  on  the  arm  of  the  Governor  of  the 
State,  amid  the  dead  silence  that  succeeded  to  the  previous 
uproar,  and  a  single  voice  greeted  him  with,  "  A  welcome 
to  the  hero  of  New  Orleans;"  the  fine  circus  company's 
band  at  the  same  instant  striking  up  the  touching  strain  of 
"Home,  sweet  home;"  I  will  confess,  I  say,  that  I  was  af- 
fected to  tears. 

A  few  hours  subsequent  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  being 
in  the  old  gentleman's  company  for  about  thirty  minutes, 
with  but  few  other  persons  present  besides  the  family  of 
Mr.  Crocket,  the  Inn-keeper  with  whom  I  put  up,  (no  lack 
of  Crockets  in  Tennessee,)  to  whom  he  came  to  make  a 
neighborly  visit  after  the  glorification  was  over;  smoking 
his  pipe  and  conversing  familiarly  and  affably  with  all  who 
approached  him.  I  liked  extremely  his  downrightness  of 
manner;  his  accessibility;  his  disposition  to  communicate 
freely  with  all,  and  upon  all  subjects.  Amongst  the  many, 
both  white  and  black,  who  shook  hands  with  the  General, 
was  an  aged  negro;  a  privileged  character,  I  take  it,  who, 
as  he  took  the  proffered  hand,  exclainied,  "How  do  Gin'ral? 
Grad  you  got  out  o'  purgatory  once  more."  Old  Hickory 
laughed  very  heartily  at  this  greeting. 

I  parted  with  my  horse  at  Nashville,  and  prosecuted  the 
rest  of  my  return  by  water.  Up  to  this  point  I  had  per- 
formed on  horseback,  since  I  left  Cincinnati,  just  fourteen 
hundred  and  ten  miles  of  travel,  in  five  different  States, 
viz:  Kentucky,  Indiana,  Tennessee,  Mississippi,  and  Ala- 
bama. I  had  crossed  twenty  rivers  besides  the  Ohio, 
which  I  crossed  three  times;  several  of  the  others  twice. 
The  rivers  are  as  follows :  Salt,  Rough,  Green,  Pond, 
Tradewater,  Cumberland,  Tennessee,  Clark's,  (Kentucky) 
Forked  Deer,  Hatchy,  Wolf,  Elk,  Duck,  (Tennessee,) 
Tallehatchy,  Tombigbee,  (Mississippi,)  Black  Warrior, 
Cahawba,  Alabama,  Tallapoosa,  Coosa,  (Alabama.)  Suffi- 
ciently wearied  of  land  travel,  I  was  glad  once  more  to 
betake  to  a  steamboat;  but  that  proved  wearisome  too,  for 


224         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

the  one  I  started  in  from  Nashville  stopped  full  fifty  times 
on  its  way  down,  to  take  in  iron,  which  utterly  prevented 
rest  from  being  enjoyed  on  board  by  night  or  day;  besides 
that,  we  were  four  days  and  nights  in  getting  to  the  Ohio 
at  Smithland,  and  the  distance  only  two  hundred  miles. 

Arrived  once  more  at  my  friend,  Capt.  Gordon's  in  Smith- 
land.  I  truly  began  to  feel  that  I  was  getting  home.  Need 
I  describe  what  that  feeling  is?  Conceive  yourself  to  have 
long  been  traversing  a  burning  and  arid  desert,  and  you 
arrive  at  length  within  sight  of  a  cooling  fountain,  in  a 
shaded  retreat  from  the  sun  and  dust.  I  borrowed  a  horse 
and  rode  to  Salem,  fifteen  miles,  where  I  delivered  two 
discourses.  Returning  to  Smithland,  I  attended  Presby- 
terian preaching  on  the  forenoon  of  the  Sabbath  ;  (first 
Sabbath  in  April.)  The  Rev.  Mr.  Johnson  invited  the 
Episcopalian  minister,  who  was  present,  or  myself,  to  add 
remarks,  if  we  felt  disposed  :  which,  however,  we  both 
declined  doing,  thanking  him  at  the  same  time  for  his 
liberality.  I  availed  of  the  opportunity  to  appoint  a  dis- 
course for  the  same  afternoon  in  the  same  house.  The 
Episcopal  clergyman  accompanied  me  home  to  Captain 
Gordon's,  where  we  spent  several  hours  in  social  chat. 
He  attended  my  lecture  in  the  afternoon,  as  did  also  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Johnson;  and  the  latter,  at  my  invitation,  closed 
the  meeting  in  a  liberal  and  friendly  spirit. 

On  the  next  day  I  got  on  board  of  an  ascending  boat, 
and  had  the  satisfaction,  in  about  an  hour  afterward,  to 
discover  that  it  was  commanded  by  Captain  Rudd,  a  mem- 
ber of  our  society  at  Patriot.  I  was  not  to  profit  long, 
however,  of  this  happy  circumstance,  for  in  the  night  the 
boat  grounded  on  a  bar,  where  she  stuck  fast  enough,  for 
twelve  or  fourteen  hours,  despite  of  every  effort  to  work 
her  off  with  the  engine.  On  Tuesday  afternoon,  the  Mis- 
sissijjpi,  a  large  and  powerful  boat,  lent  her  aid  for  two  or 
three  hours,  but  without  effect,  except  that  of  breaking 
several  cables.  The  passengers  therefore  abandoned  the 
former  and  transfered  themselves  on  board  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, which  on  Thursday  landed  us  at  Louisville. 

Thus  terminated  my  first  journey  to  the  South;  which 
was  incomparably  more  fatiguing  than  any  I  ever  per- 
formed before;  it  involved  more  varieties  of  hardship  and 
exposure;  and  put  to  severer  proof  my  health,  patience, 
and  fortitude. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  225 


CHAPTER    X. 

Commences  writing  and  publishing  the  Pro  and  Con  of  Universalisni 
— Visits  the  White  Oak  region  in  Highland  county,  Ohio,  and 
the  Wabash  region  in  Indiana. 

My  labors  of  the  following  Spring  and  Summer  were 
divided,  principally  among  the  four  societies  of  Mont- 
gomery, Oxford,  Deerfield,  and  Edwardsville  :  at  these  I 
preached  statedly,  and  at  other  places  as  I  found  oppor- 
tunity. In  August  of  the  same  year,  amid  my  other 
engagements,  I  commenced  the  writing  and  publishing  of 
a  book,  entitled,  "  The  Pro  and  Con  of  Universalism,  both 
as  to  its  doctrines  and  moral  hearings.''''  For  lack  of  funds 
to  publish  it  entire,  and  also  of  time  to  write  it  out  at  once, 
I  issued  it  in  sixteen  numbers,  of  twenty-four  pages  each. 
The  reader  will  smile  at  my  presumption  when  I  assure 
him,  that  I  had  written  but  half  a  dozen  pages  of  the  work 
when  the  printer  begun  upon  it,  and  had  formed  no  de- 
terminate plan  as  to  the  remainder,  other  than  this,  that, 
as  far  as  was  possible,  I  would  make  its  contents  bear  out 
its  title.  Well,  I  was  properly  punished  for  my  audacity, 
for  the  printer's  devil  so  haunted  me  for  copy,  during  the 
progress  of  the  work,  that  the  dread  of  him  became  a  sort 
of  waking  nightmare  to  me.  Now,  it  was  not  as  though 
I  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  sit  in  my  study  and  beat  my 
brains  for  subject-matter.  On  the  contrary,  I  had  the 
money  for  paper  and  printing  to  obtain  ;  to  get  that  I 
must  travel  to  obtain  and  collect  subscriptions  ;  that, 
again,  took  me  from  my  writing,  and  increased  my  arrears 
to  the  devil  aforesaid.  Then,  moreover,  I  had  my  stated 
preachings  to  fulfill,  and  my  family  to  provide  for,  and,  if 
the  proverb  holds  true,  that  "  an  idle  man  is  always  in  a 
hurry,"  then  was  I,  in  good  sooth,  a  very  idle  man  in 
those  days. 

I  have  set  up  many  a  live-long  night,  for  instance,  to 
prepare  matter  for  the  printers  to  work  upon  while  I 
should  be  fulfilling  engagements  in  the  country,  and,  de- 
ferring for  the  same  reason,  the  starting  to  those  engage- 
ments until  the  last  moment,  I  have  had  to  ride  at  full 
gallop  in  order  to  be  up  to  the  time  of  them. 

One  Saturday,  for  example,  I  started  within  two  hours 


226         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

of  sun-set  for  Deerfield;  where  lay  my  first  appointment 
for  the  next  day.  The  distance  thither  from  Cincinnati  is 
twenty-six  miles.  I  arrived  at  my  friend's  there,  Mathias 
Roosa,  between  ten  and  eleven  o'clock  at  night.  Without 
disturbing  the  family,  who  were  retired  to  rest,  I  put  up 
my  horse  in  the  stable,  and  found  my  way  to  the  chamber 
I  was  in  the  habit  of  occupying.  After  my  meeting  there 
in  the  forenoon,  I  had  next  to  go  to  Edwardsville,  ten 
miles,  across  the  Little  Miami,  which  was  too  high  to  be 
forded,  and  Todd's  Fork  of  the  same,  which  was  nearly 
so.  When  within  a  mile  of  Edwardsville  a  copious  thun- 
der-shower fell,  which  soaked  me  to  the  skin.  Neverthe- 
less, as  on  my  arrival  at  the  meeting-house  I  found  the 
congregation  to  be  fully  assembled,  1  commenced  the  ser- 
vices without  delay,  and  my  shoes,  while  I  was  preaching, 
filled  with  the  water  which  drippled  from  my  clothes. 
But  that,  to  one  accustomed  to  exposures,  was  nothing. 

But  I  had  a  third  meeting  to  attend  to,  at  Goshen,  ten 
miles:  and  thither  I  sped,  after  my  services  at  Edwards- 
ville, without  stopping  for  refreshments.  There,  also,  I 
found  the  audience  to  have  assembled  in  readiness  for  me, 
and  I  must  needs  go  to  preaching  forthwith.  When  that 
was  over,  I  accompanied  a  friend  home  who  had  a  Metho- 
dist wife,  and  went  supperless  to  bed,  in  a  room  that  had 
been  plastered  but  a  day  or  two  before.  Indeed  I  plainly 
perceived  the  sheets  to  be  more  than  dampened,  almost 
wet,  from  that  cause.  Yet  I  continued  in  them,  from 
sheer  indolence,  or  exhaustion,  and  slept  soundly  until 
morning. 

That  my  health  received  no  shock  from  all  this,  seems 
to  me  now  almost  miraculous;  if  I  may  assign  a  cause 
therefor,  I  would  assign  it  to  the  general  sparceness  of 
my  diet;  my  entire  avoidance  of  stimulants  either  in  the 
form  of  food  or  drink;  my  never  eating  between  meals, 
nor  shortly  before  retiring  to  rest;  and  above  all,  my  total 
repudiation  of  the  use  of  medicine,  except  in  very  ex- 
treme cases.  I  also  bathe  much  in  the  warm  season,  and 
make  it  a  great  point  to  keep  my  skin  clean,  and  its  pores 
unobstructed. 

I  started  from  Madisonville,  on  Tuesday,  September 
5th,  accompanied  by  the  late  Samuel  Tizzard,  then  pro- 
prietor of  the  Star  in  the  West,  to  fulfill  an  appointment 
of  a  two  days'  meeting  which  I  had  authorised  to  be  made 
somewhere  in  Highland  county,  I  knew  not  exactly  where, 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  227 

and  had  therefore  to  go  to  Mr.  John  Mitchell's,  in  Clinton 
county,  to  ascertain  the  precise  locale  of  the  appointment. 
We  reached  our  good  old  friend  Yost's,  about  two  o'clock 
same  day,  and  were  treated  to  the  relics  of  a  wedding 
dinner,  which  I  thought  was  making  a  good  beginning; 
but  such  beginnings, it  is  said,  don't  usually  end  well;  and 
it  proved  true  in  this  case,  for  it  shortly  set  in  to  rain  : 
we  were  compelled  to  push  on  through  it;  so,  being  un- 
prepared with  an  overcoat,  I  borrowed  Mr.  Yost's,  which 
was  nearly  large  enough  for  self  and  horse,  and  away 
we  trudged  toward  Mr.  Mitchell's,  sixteen  miles  distant, 
which  we  were  bent  on  reaching  that  night. 

In  the  gray  of  the  evening  we  reached  Blanchester, 
which  might  grow  to  be  ten  times  as  big  as  it  is,  and  not 
be  a  very  large  place,  even  then.  Thence  to  our  destina- 
tion that  night  was  six  or  seven  miles;  and  for  most  of 
the  way  through  the  deepest  kind  of  a  swamp.  Such  is 
the  title  under  which  it  was  described  to  us,  and  our  expe- 
rience verified  the  description.  We  were  between  two 
and  three  hours  floundering  through  this  extensive  quag- 
mire. The  night  was  dark — the  tree-tops  met  overhead — 
we  could  not  discern  each  other;  and  the  only  circum- 
stance which  enabled  us  to  keep  in  the  road,  was,  the 
water  being  more  visible  there  than  among  the  bushes  on 
either  hand;  there  was  continual  danger  too,  of  our  horses 
stumbling  over  stumps,  snags,  and  the  like.  However, 
the  longest  and  worst  roads  must  end  somewhere,  which 
is  one  comfort;  and  about  a  quarter  after  nine  o'clock 
we  had  the  consolation  to  find  ourselves  at  John  Mitchell's. 

Believe  me,  reader,  or  believe  me  not,  there  really  is 
more  poetry,  and  more  philosophy,  too,  in  sitting  in  the 
chimney  corner,  while  the  kettle  is  hissing  to  the  tune  of 
a  forthcoming  supper,  and  in  making  calculation  as  to  the 
probable  number  of  wights  that  may  be  plodding  through 
the  rain  which  is  pattering  against  the  windows,  than  there 
is  in  being  included  among  said  luckless  gentry,  and  wal- 
lowing in  a  deep  morass  into  the  bargain. 

Wednesday  morning,  still  raining.  John  Mitchell  and 
Selden  Weber  determined  on  accompanying  us — precisely 
the  men  I  would  pick  from  a  thousand  for  a  like  purpose. 
Our  way  lying  through  Martinsville,  we  called  on  our 
highly  esteemed  friend,  Dr.  Dalton,  with  whom  we  tarried 
to  dine.  From  thence  to  the  place  of  meeting  was  about 
thirteen  miles;  toward  the  last  part  of  the  way  we  en- 


228        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

countered  another  extensive  swamp;  the  road  through  it 
had  been  newly  trenched  and  thrown  up,  and  was  now, 
after  the  rains,  almost  impassable.  My  nag  got  her  hind 
feet  fast  between  some  sunken  poles,  and  in  the  effort  to 
extricate  them,  down  she  fell  into  the  mire.  I  feared  the 
use  of  another  pole  would  be  required  to  pry  her  out;  but 
it  proved  not  quite  so  serious  an  affair;  she  escaped  with 
a  slight  gash  in  one  of  her  legs.  It  was  within  an  hour  of 
night  when  we  reached  old  Mr.  Colvin's;  there  the  road 
seemed  to  end  in  paths  to  the  different  widely  scattered 
dwellings.  The  scenery  here  looked  wild  and  broken 
enough,  and  the  prospect  for  a  meeting  dull  enough  in  all 
conscience.  I  began  to  think  I  had  come  sixty  miles  di- 
rect from  home  through  mud  and  rain  to  little  purpose. 
Our  friends  went  to  hunt  for  the  meeting,  whilst  Mr.  Tiz- 
zard  and  I  dismounted  and  let  our  horses  browse  in  the 
woods. 

Mr.  Colvin  was  upwards  of  seventy  years  old  :  he  had 
journeyed  on  foot  upwards  of  forty  miles,  to  the  Associa- 
tion at  Amelia  the  preceding  fall.  I  thought  it  but  just,  as 
he  had  taken  such  pains  to  go  to  a  meeting,  that  I  should 
take  some  pains  to  carry  a  meeting  to  him. 

It  was  after  sun-set  ere  I  was  informed  where  the  meet- 
ing was  to  be.  This  left  me  little  time  enough  to  eat  my 
supper,  and  walk,  fatigued  as  I  was,  for  more  than  a  mile 
through  mud  and  darkness.  As  we  approached  the  school- 
house,  I  was  cheered  by  hearing  my  companions,  Mitchell 
and  Weber,  engaged  in  singing  to  the  waiting  audience, 
and  on  entering  was  greatly  surprised  at  finding  it  filled 
— uncomfortably  filled — dark  and  rainy  as  was  the  night, 
and  miry  as  were  the  roads.  Such  an  anxiety  to  hear, 
ought  to  inspire  a  preacher,  if  anything  can.  I  have  rea- 
son to  believe  that  not  a  word  I  said  was  thrown  away. 
Another  meeting  was  appointed  the  next  day  at  eleven 
o'clock.  Thursday  proved  to  be  even  more  stormy  than 
the  two  days  previous;  the  rain  descended  in  torrents; 
still,  it  did  not  prevent  a  large  congregation  from  conven- 
ing, of  which  a  good  portion  were  females.  I  did  endeavor 
so  to  preach  "  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God,"  as  to  afford 
them  some  kind  of  compensation  for  their  trouble  and 
inconvenience  in  getting  together;  how  I  succeeded  in  the 
effort  1  say  not.  » 

On  the  whole,  I  grudged  not  my  trouble  and  sacrifice 
in  visiting  this  obscure  settlement.     I  liked  the  simple- 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  229 

heartedness  of  the  people — their  frank  and  cheerful  hos- 
pitality— their  close  and  interested  attention  to  the  preach- 
ing. They  proffered  me  such  pecuniary  remuneration 
as  they  could  afford,  but  I  declined  it :  my  glory  in 
preaching  to  the  poor  is,  that  I  have  made  the  gospel  no 
expense  to  them;  I  am  compensated  when  I  witness  the 
joy  with  which  they  receive  it,  and  reflect  that  my  weak 
instrumentality  has  been  effectual  to  their  increase  of 
hope  and  confidence  in  God. 

On  Thursday  night  I  preached  in  a  little  village  called 
Lynchburgh  :  the  appointment  was  made  about  sun-set, 
we  having  arrived  there  about  that  time,  on  our  return 
from  the  meeting  on  the  waters  of  the  White  Oak.  The 
congregation,  for  the  circumstances,  was  quite  good.  After 
the  services,  we  all  went  to  tarry  for  the  night  with  an  old 
Universalist,  living  about  a  mile  distant.  The  next  night 
I  preached  at  the  house  of  Dr.  Dalton,  in  Martinsville,  to 
a  good  congregation;  the  next  day,  (Saturday,)  in  the 
afternoon,  at  Cuba.  This  was  the  first  discourse  of  the 
kind  ever  delivered  there;  and  in  the  evening,  in  John 
Mitchell's  neighborhood,  to  a  very  excellent  and  attentive 
audience. 

On  Sunday  morning,  forsooth,  I  was  pretty  well  fa- 
tigued ;  but  no  time  was  there  for  thinking  of  fatigue  with 
the  business  of  the  day  before  me,  which  was  to  consist 
in  traveling  twenty-six  miles,  and  holding  three  meetings, 
viz.  at  Edwardsville,  Deerfield  and  Palmyra.  At  the  last 
named  place,  ended  the  business  of  my  wet  tour,  in  which 
I  had  the  pleasure  of  Mr.  Tizzard's  company  all  the  way, 
and  for  most  of  the  way,  that  of  several  highly  valued 
brethren.  It  rained  the  larger  part  of  the  whole  time, 
and  yet  the  meetings  were  good  in  nearly  every  place;  on 
which  account,  although  somewhat  jaded  in  body,  I  was 
cheered  in  spirit;  fori  do  love  to  roll  on  the  news  of 
salvation  over  this  sinful  and  suffering  world. 

Being  from  home  some  fifty  miles,  a  week  or  two  af- 
terward, for  the  purpose  of  preaching  a  Sabbath  in  a 
neighborhood  till  then  unvisited  by  any  of  our  ministers, 
1  was  completely  frustrated  of  my  object  by  a  cold,  copious, 
and  tempestuous  rain,  which,  from  morning  till  night, 
poured  down  without  intermission. 

One  needs  to  be  superabundantly  good-natured  to  resist 
the  acidifying  effects  of  such  a  day,  upon  his  temper, 
under  any  circumstances;  but  especially  does  he,  when, 


230        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

in  addition  to  its  own  discomforts,  it  flatly  disappoints  his 
projects,  and  coops  him  unescapably,  as  this  did  me,  in  a 
little,  dark,  dirty,  and  smokey  cabin;  teeming  with  cross 
and  dirty-faced  children;  and  from  whence  one  cannot 
stir  afoot  in  any  direction  without  getting  half-knee  deep 
in  mud  and  the  ordure  of  pigs,  geese,  and  cattle.  How 
well,  or  otherwise,  my  own  temper  behaved  itself  under 
such  circumstances,  I  will  not  take  it  upon  me  to  report. 

But  the  father  of  my  host,  who  was  thoroughly  ortho- 
dox, warp  and  woof,  and  who  was  troubled  with  asthmatic 
affection  as  a  further  provocative  to  petulence — he,  I  say, 
exhibited  through  the  live4ong  day  a  good  deal  of  grou- 
tiness.  He  was  there  from  his  home  some  miles  distant, 
for  the  express  purpose  of  hearing  me;  not  that  he  calcu^ 
lated  on  believing  a  single  word  that  I  should  say;  but 
rather  to  gratify  an  inordinate  propensity  for  contradiction. 
Very  sore,  therefore,  were  his  mutterings  of  discontent  at 
the  rain,  for  balking  him  of  his  anticipated  indulgence  of 
that  propensity. 

Nevertheless,  he  had  the  preacher  there,  and  he  might 
indemnify  himself  on  him  in  some  sort;  so  he  luckily  be- 
thought him  of  charging  the  rain  itself  to  my  account! 
"  Providence  is  clear  agin  you,  sir,"  said  he.  "  You  aint  to 
make  any  Universalists  by  your  preaching,  this  day. 
God  has  sent  this  rain  on  purpose  to  shut  your  mouth." 

"  Which  being  the  case,"  I  quietly  retorted,  "  he  has 
over-shot  his  mark;  for  by  this  same  rain  he  has  also  shut 
the  mouths  of  hundreds  of  orthodox  preachers,  and  pre- 
vented them  from  making  converts  to   the  truths 

"Ah  well,  no  matter!  them  that's  kept  from  hearing 
the  right  kind  of  preachers,  will  pray  and  read  their  Bibles 
at  home;  but  them  what  would  a'  heerd  you,  are  kept 
from  hearing  lies,  and  from  other  deviltries." 

"  Upon  my  word,  old  gentleman,  you  are  exceedingly 
moderate  and  courteous.  Howbeit,  like  the  God  you 
speak  of,  3/0?/ also  have  the  failure  of  over-shooting;  for 
I  have  understood  that  it  was  your  purpose  to  hear  me  to- 
day. Why,  then,  may  not  other  good  christians  also  have 
been  among  my  hearers?  On  the  other  hand,  sir,  if  you 
rank  yourself  with  those  who  would  have  gone  to  hear 
the  right  kind  of  preachers,  how  comes  it  that  you  are 
not  praying,  and  reading  your  Bible?  I  have  not  seen  you 
employed  in  either  of  these  ways  to-day." 

My  host's  wife  here  stepped  in  on  the  old  man's  behalf, 


OF   A   TTNIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  231 

for  she  saw  that  he  had  run  his  silly  old  head  into  a  noose, 
and  her  own  leanings  were  to  his  side  of  the  question, 
"  I  must  confess,"  said  she,  "  that  I  think  with  father,  that 
there  is  a  providence  in  its  raining  to-day.  I  was  sorry 
when  my  husband  told  me  he  had  invited  you  into  the 
neighborhood,  but  as  he  never  opposes  me,  I  don't  him. 
But  I  do  confess  that  I'm  glad  of  this  rain,  and  I  pray  it 
forever  will  rain  when  a  Universalist  preacher  appoints  a 
meeting  here. 

"  All  fair,  ma'am,"  I  mildly  answered,  "  I  like  plain 
speech,  provided  it  be  not  spiced  with  ill-nature.  Time 
was  when  I  should  have  felt  and  spoken  as  you  do  in 
regard  to  Universalist  preaching,  and  also,  perhaps,  in 
regard  to  God's  taking  special  measures  to  thwart  it;  but 
that  time  is  long  since  gone  by,  and  I  will  give  you  my 
present  views  on  these  heads  with  perfect  frankness. 

"  You  consider  the  public  worship  of  God  as  among  the 
means  of  grace.  It  is,  indeed,  a  very  prominent  means; 
more  are  doubtless  converted  to  religion  thereby,  than  by 
all  other  means  combined.  The  devil,  too,  it  is  said, 
seems  to  be  aware  of  this,  and  to  employ  various  devices 
to  prevent  the  people  from  profiting  of  the  Sabbath 
privileges.  Some  he  tempts,  through  their  indolence, 
to  avoid  the  trouble  of  preparing  themselves  for  public 
worship;  others  he  lures  to  Sabbath  breach,  through  their 
love  of  pleasure;  others,  again,  through  their  pride;  they 
fear  to  go  lest  they  should  meet  with  some  people  there 
who  are  better  dressed  than  themselves,  etc.,  etc.  But, 
Madam,  when  God  causes  it  to  rain  on  Sundays,  it  must 
save  the  devil  a  vast  deal  of  trouble  in  his  line  of  opera- 
tions. He  may  keep  holiday  when  Jehovah  does  his  work 
for  him,  more  effectually  than  he  can  do  it  for  himself. 

"Suppose,  Madam,  that  the  average  of  converts  made 
by  the  public  means  of  grace,  is  as  one  per  Sabbath  for 
every  worshipping  assembly.  Now,  within  any  region  in 
our  country,  over  which  extends  a  rain  so  general  as  the 
one  now  falling,  there  must  necessarily  be  many  thou- 
sands of  assemblies  which  are  thus  prevented  from  meet- 
ing for  worship;  and,of  course,  the  conversion  of  so  many 
thousands  of  soula  is  thus  completely  frustrated.  To  that 
amount,  then,  does  Heaven  lose,  and  Hell  gain,  by  every 
rainy  Sabbath.  Now,  can  you  think.  Madam,  that  God 
would  throw  so  great  an  advantage  into  the  devil's  way, 
merely  to  baffle  one  poor  Universalist  preacher? 


232        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

And,  seriously,  reader,  is  it  not  a  thing  to  be  marveled 
at,  if,  as  is  represented,  the  span  of  man's  life  comprises 
the  whole  term  of  his  probation  to  eternity;  is  it  not  mar- 
velous, I  say,  that  so  many  hindrances  to  a  favorable 
issue  should  be  permitted  to  arise,  especially  as  Jehovah 
is  said  to  be  so  anxiously  concerned  for  such  issue? 

Why,  for  instance,  should  lightning  sometimes  strike 
and  consume  churches?  Why  should  boat-loads  of  mis- 
sionaries be  engulfed  in  the  sea?  Why  are  eminently 
useful  ministers  cut  off  in  the  midst  of  their  work  of  con- 
verting sinners?  Why  was  Mohammedanism  permitted  to 
over-run  and  subdue  territories  wherein  the  earliest  chris- 
tian churches  were  planted?  Why,  if  Jehovah  is  Supreme 
Lord,  and  is  as  benevolently  concerned  for  man's  eternal 
welfare  as  he  is  said  to  be,  why  does  he  yield  so  much 
vantage-ground  to  the  great  enemy  of  souls,  whereby  he 
is  the  more  easily  enabled  to  people  his  dreary  realm  of 
endless  rebelion  and  wo? 

Ah !  on  Universalist  ground — on  the  ground  that  God 
orders  all  events  at  all  times,  in  all  departments  of  exist- 
ence, for  the  best  ultimate  good  of  all — on  this  ground, 
I  say,  all  is  satisfactory;  nothing  is  inexplicable.  But 
on  the  ground  that  man's  whole  eternity  of  being  may  be 
determined  for  bliss]  or  wo,  by  the  slightest  circumstance 
of  time;  all  is  an  infinite  maze  of  perplexity,  bewilder- 
ment and  doubt. 

It  was  not  far  from  the  scene  of  the  above  conversation, 
and  whilst  Samuel  Tizzard  was  accompanying  me  in 
my  travels,  that,  at  the  close  of  one  of  my  sermons,  a 
preacher  arose  and  attacked  my  doctrine  with  great  asper- 
ity. His  appearance  was  genteel,  and  his  language  indi- 
cated a  fair  degree  of  intellectual  culture;  but  his  argu- 
ments and  representations  exceedingly  puerile  and  self- 
destructive.  For  example.  He  said  that  if  people  could 
be  brought  to  believe  in  my  doctrine,  there  was  nothing 
whatever  to  restrain  them  from  crime;  they  would  be 
fools  if  they  did  not  sin  their  fill;  he  should  do  so,  for 
his  part,  did  he  believe  it!  Not  that  he  would  insinuate 
anything  to  the  disparagement  of  Mr.  Rogers,  by  no 
means;  he  believed  him  to  be  a  correct  and  gentlemanly 
man.  "  But,  were  I  assured,"  said  he,  "  that  no  hell  await- 
ed the  sinner  after  death,  I  would  say  to  my  soul,  as  the 
fool  did  in  the  parable, '  Soul  take  thine  ease,  eat,  drink, 
and  be  merry.' " 


OF    A   TJNIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  233 

"  My  friends,"  said  I,  in  answer,  "  the  gentleman  pays 
to  me  a  very  high  compliment,  or  to  himself  a  very  low 
one.  I,  it  seems,  am  so  much  his  superior,  that  I  can  be 
correct  and  gentlemanly  ivithout  a  hell,  whereas  he  must 
have  the  restraints  which  the  fear  of  hell  imposes,  to  keep 
him  within  the  hounds  of  decency.'''' 

Mr.  Tizzard  had  a  warm  heart  toward  Universalism, 
and  was  disposed  to  make  more  sacrifices  in  its  behalf 
than  laymen  ordinarily  are;  he  took  a  real  interest  in 
hearing  it  preached,  and  in  witnessing  its  spread;  hence 
he  proposed  accompanying  me  in  a  lour  to  the  Wabash 
country,  in  Indiana,  which  had,  as  yet,  never  been  visited 
by  any  of  our  preachers.  To  this  proposition  I  gladly 
acceded,  for  I  had  been  for  some  time  previous  thither- 
ward inclined. 

In  nearly  all  the  places  which  we  stopped  at,  in  that 
State,  we  found  a  prevailing  anxiety  to  hear  "  the  gospel 
of  the  grace  of  God."  In  the  most"  of  them  it  had  never 
before  been  proclaimed  agreeably  to  Universalist  views 
of  it.  Such  was  the  case  at  Milan,  New  Marion,  and 
Napoleon,  in  Ripley  county;  at  Cumberland,  in  Marion 
county;  at  Bridgeport,  Greencastle,  and  Pleasant  Garden. 
Putnam  county;  at  Terre-Haute,  Vigo  county,  etc. 

As  Mr.  Tizzard  could  not  arrange  his  affairs  so  as  to 
start  with  me,  I  set  out  alone,  with  the  understanding  that 
he  should  join  me  at  Indianapolis.  My  journey  was  begun 
in  very  unpromising  weather;  so  much  so  indeed,  that  had 
my  appointments  not  been  out,  I  should  have  deferred  it  till 
a  more  favorable  season ;  but  it  proved  to  be  quite  as  well 
as  it  was.  It  rained  hard  for  two  days,  and  snowed  during 
one  night,  but  despite  the  rain  and  the  mud,  I  had  hear- 
ers, and  was  enabled,  I  trust,  to  sow  the  seed  of  truth  in 
some  good  and  honest  hearts. 

At  Napoleon  I  inquired  at  the  first  Inn  I  came  to  if  any 
person  of  my  sentiments  lived  in  the  place.  The  landlord 
frankly  informed  me  that  he  was  one  of  that  description  • 
and  on  my  inquiring  if— late,  and  rainy  as  it  was— a  meet- 
ing could  be  gotten  up  in  the  evening;  he  encouraged  me 
to  alight,  and  he  would  make  an  effort  to  that  effect.  It 
succeeded — his  bar-room  being  the  chapel  for  the  occa- 
sion. He  and  his  wife  proved  to  be  recently  from  Bucks 
county,  Pennsylvania;  and  we  took  great  satisfaction  in 
conversing  together  concerning  persons  in  that  quarter 
with  whom  we  were  mutually  acquainted  :  a  woods-meet- 
16 


234        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

ing,  which  S.  W.  Fuller  and  I  had  held  together  there,  two 
years  before,  was  well  remembered.  Nothing  can  be 
more  refreshing  to  one's  feelings,  in  journeying  among 
strangers,  than  to  find  occasionally  some  amongst  them, 
with  whom  can  be  interchanged  reminisences  of  this  na- 
ture; and,  owing  to  the  extent  of  my^  rambles,  such  plea- 
sure often  occurs  to  me. 

At  Indianapolis  I    put  up  with  Abner  H.  Longley;  he 
had  obtained  the  use  of  the  Academy  for  my  meetings  on 
Thursday  and  Friday  evenings,  it  being  engaged  on  Sat- 
urday evening  and  the  Sabbath  by  the  Reformers,  who 
were  pretty  numerous  in  the  town,  and  were  erecting  a 
meeting-house.       When  I    had   closed   my   discourse   on 
Thursday  evening,  I  was  informed  that,  contrary  to  pre- 
vious   arrangement,   the    Reformers   would    occupy    the 
house  on  the  next  evening — most  evidently  with  the  design 
of  furnishing  the  preacher,  who  was  taking  notes,  an  oppor- 
tunity  for  attacking  my  positions,  whilst  I,  being  thrown 
o-ut  of  a  place,  would  have  no  means  of  replying  :  when 
it  was  perceived,  however,  that  I  was  bent  on  procuring 
another  place  for  the  residue  of  my  lectures,  they  agreed 
that  their  preacher  should  divide  the  evening  with  me; 
to  which  arrangement  I  acceded.     This  was  the  identical 
person  with  whom,  in  the   spring  of   1835,  I  refused  to 
hold  a  discussion,  on  the  ground  of  his  being  unlettered. 
This  happened  at  Mansfield,  Richland  county,   Ohio.     I 
must  do  him  the  justice  to  say,  that  he  evinced  a  tolerable 
deg-ree  of  shrewdness,  and  made   a  very  respectable  at- 
tempt at  proving  that  salvation  beyond  death  is  conditional. 
His  main  strength  lay  in   two  passages,  and  of  their  suffi- 
ciency he  was  so  confident  that  he  defied  the  world  to  a 
successful  contradiction  of  the  doctrine  thereon  erected. 
The  one  passage  speaks  of  Christ  as  having  become  "  the 
author  of  eternal  salvation  to  all  them  that  obey  him:'' 
The  other  exhorts  to  our  giving  all  diligence  to  make  ouy 
calling  and  election  sure;  and  adds,  as  a  motive  to  chris- 
tian diligence — "For  so  an  entrance  shall  be  ministered 
unto  you   abundantly  into   the  everlasting  kingdom   of 
our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ."     An   eternal   salva- 
tion, and  the  everlasting  kingdom  of  Christ,  he  was  quite 
sure,   could    not    but    mean    a  state   of    things    beyond 
death.     I   flatter  myself  that  I  made  the  contrary  quite 
apparent  to  the  audience,  and  I  trust  that  he  and  they 
were  both  brought  to  perceive  that  the  notion  of  a  future 


OF   A    TJNIV'ERSALIST    PREACHER.  235 

conditional  salvation,  will  abide  neither  a  scriptural  nor  a 
logical  investigation.  On  the  whole,  it  was  the  general 
opinion  of  our  friends,  that  at  least  nothing  was  lost  to 
our  cause  at  this  meeting;  and  the  largeness  and  respecta- 
bility of  my  subsequent  audiences  in  the  town — at  times 
too  when  the  other  denominations  were  holding  meetings 
— gave  evidence  to  the  correctness  of  the  opinion. 

On  Sunday  morning,  I  went  to  hold  a  meeting  about  five 
miles  south  of  Indianapolis;  the  audience  was  large  and 
attentive.  On  the  next  evening  I  addressed  a  good  col- 
lection of  people  at  Cumberland,  ten  miles  east  of  the 
capital;  and  was  informed  that  they  were  very  generally 
favorable  to  our  cause.  On  my  return  from  this  place  on 
Tuesday  morning,  I  overtook  Mr.  Tizzard,  on  his  way  to 
join  me,  at  the  entrance  of  the  town;  and  after  we  had 
dined  at  Mr.  Longley's,  we  started  together  to  the  place 
of  my  appointment  for  that  evening,  a  little  village  called 
Bridgeport,  eight  miles  west  of  Indianapolis;  where  we 
found,  and  sj)ent  most  of  our  time  with,  a  Mr.  McDaniels, 
recently  from  Philadelphia.  A  bar-room,  and  a  poor  one 
too,  was  my  chapel  again  that  evening. 

Much  can  be  said  in  praise  of  the  beauty  of  Indianap- 
olis; it  is  a  plain,  but  from  the  main  street,  or  National 
Road,  on  which  stands  the  imposing  capital,  there  is  a  very 
gentle  declension  toward  the  south;  and  the  view  obtain- 
able in  all  directions,  from  any  given  point,  is  very  exten- 
sive, which  will  be  more  and  more  the  case  as  the  adjacent 
forests  disappear.  The  surrounding  country  is  fertile, 
and  abundantly  watered  with  the  White  River  and  its 
branches,  which  flow  in  channels  of  fine  white  gravel.  I 
know  of  no  local  causes  which  can  militate  against  the 
health  of  the  place. 

On  Wednesday,  November  1st,  we  reached  Greencastle, 
county  seat  of  Putnam,  about  twelve  miles  to  the  right  of 
our  direct  route  to  Terre-Haute:  we  called  on  Judge  Far- 
ley, who,  although  the  sun  was  nearly  down,  gave  out  suf- 
ficient notice  of  a  meeting  for  the  evening  to  effect  a  very 
tolerable  gathering.  Our  next  stop  was  at  Pleasant  Gar- 
den, twelve  miles  distant,  on  the  National  Road.  Had  to 
be  dependent  on  the  charity  of  our  Methodist  host  for  his 
bar-room  as  a  place  of  meeting,  and  sooth  to  say,  we  found 
our  Methodist  host  to  be  the  only  one  in  the  place  who 
took  an  active  interest  in  the  object  of  our  stay ;  by  his 
exertions  we  got  up  a  good  meeting  :  several  Universalist 
persons  attended  from  a  distance  of  some  miles. 


236         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

I  spoke  of  Indianapolis  as  possessing  a  fine  situation; 
that  of  Terre-Haute  is  superior;  it  is  passing  fine.  Be- 
tween the  Wabash  and  the  nearest  hills  to  the  east, 
stretches  a  perfect  plain  of  prairie  land,  two  or  three  miles 
in  breadth,  its  soil  the  mellowest  conceivable,  resembling 
an  admixture  of  sand  and  leached  ashes,  and  relieved  with 
small  copses  of  black-oak,  at  considerable  distances  apart. 
On  the  western  or  river  edge  of  this  level  and  beautiful 
plain,  stands  Terre-Haute,  a  town  which  can  boast  of  some 
very  pretty  residences,  and  a  population  of  about  three 
thousand  persons. 

1  delivered  nine  discourses  there,  and  in  the  most  unfa- 
vorable state  of  the  weather  and  roads.  It  rained  and 
blowed  with  scarcely  any  intermission;  the  audiences, 
nevertheless,  were  exceedingly  good,  and  several  converts 
to  the  faith  were  made;  amongst  them  several,  who,  till 
then,  had  been  sceptical  in  relation  to  Christianity.  I  was 
pleased  with  the  state  of  society  in  the  place,  and  thought 
it  by  several  degrees  superior  to  that  of  most  of  the  west- 
ern towns.  We  have  a  large  and  elegant  church  there, 
at  the  present  time,  and  a  well  sustained  Universalist 
periodical  is,  also,  there  published. 

Eugene,  is  forty  miles  above,  on  the  western  bank  of 
the  Big  Vermillion  river;  in  the  heart  of  as  fine  a  coun- 
try as  my  eyes  ever  beheld;  never,  indeed,  have  I  seen 
a  tract,  of  equal  extent,  so  combining  beauty  and  fertility; 
excepting,  perhaps,  a  tract  in  Alabama,  commencing  at 
Ditto's  Landing,  on  the  Tennessee  river,  and  extending  to 
the  northern  line  of  the  State,  a  distance  of  more  than 
twenty  miles:  it  is  doubtful,  however,  if  this  was  ever  so 
fertile,  and  it  is  certainly  at  this  date  pretty  much  ex- 
hausted. Beyond  controversy,  Indiana  has  more  rich 
and  beautiful  land  lying  in  a  body,  than  the  State  of  Ohio 
can  boast;  and,  perhaps  I  may  add,  more  poor  land  too. 

Our  arrival  at  Eugene  was  on  a  Sabbath  evening,  and 
my  appointment  was  not  till  the  night  following,  so  we 
went  to  hear  the  Methodists,  who  were  holding  a  quarterly 
meeting.  '  The  preacher  proved  himself  a  weak  concern. 
He  did  not,  so  far  as  I  remember,  blunder  upon  one  sound 
principle  in  religion,  during  his  whole  discourse.  After 
him  arose  the  presiding  elder,  who  manifested  a  very  re- 
spectable share  of  talent.  Arduous  were  the  efforts  he 
made  for  converts;  he  ranted  himself  hoarse;  he  would 
give,  he  said,  his  head  off  of  his  shoulders,  if  thereby  one 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  29T 

sinner  might  be  saved!  It  would  seem  then,  that  what 
Christ  did  for  man's  redemption,  was  insufficient,  and  our 
good  preacher  was  willing  to  throw  his  head  into  the 
scale  to  complete  the  quantum,  n.  most  valuable  addition,  no 
douht,  to  take  Ids  estimate  of  its  worth.  "Now  what  harm 
would  it  do  you,"  said  he,  after  a  long  fruitless  coaxing  of 
the  sinners,  to  come  and  be  prayed  for,  "if  you  should  all 
of  you  make  up  your  minds  to  come  and  be  converted 
together?  Well  now,  suppose  you  do!  my  soul  says  amen! 
I  will  avouch  that  one  hundred  here  will  say  amen.  Who 
says  amen?"  Here  two  or  three  responded  'Amen!'  "Oh 
yes!"  continued  the  preacher,  "we  all  say  amen!"  As 
this  kind  of  spiritual  provender  was  not  much  to  my  appe- 
tite, I  also  said  amen,  and  quit  the  scene. 

I  preached  twice  in  Eugene  to  very  full  and  very  atten- 
tive audiences.  We  found  but  one  professed  Universalist 
there  on  our  arrival:  that  we  left  more  than  we  found 
was  made  evident  by  tokens  not  to  be  mistaken. 

At  Perryville,  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Wabash,  I 
delivered  one  discourse  to  about  two  hundred  hearers. 
Put  up  with  a  Universalist,  formerly  from  Washington 
county,  Ohio,  whose  orthodox  wife  had  the  delicacy  to  in- 
form us,  in  his  presence,  that  she  never  knew  a  moral  or 
decent  Universalist  in  her  life!  I  told  her  I  had  never  in 
all  my  life  known  the  Universalist  wife  of  an  orthodox 
man  to  abuse  her  husband's  guests  on  account  of  their 
faith;  but  that,  by  the  orthodox  wives  of  Universalist 
men,  I  had  myself  been  frequently  treated  in  a  manner 
which  set  all  decency  at  defiance. 

Attica  is  a  thriving  village,  and  enjoys  a  situation  on  the 
eastern  bank  of  the  Wabash,  not  easily  surpassed  for 
beauty  and  advantages.  I  preached  not  there,  but  deliv- 
ered two  sermons  on  Shawnee  Prairie,  five  miles  above; 
and  this  occasioned  a  disappointment  at  the  former  place, 
which  I  learned,  when  too  late,  with  deep  regret.  Appoint- 
ments ahead  prevented  our  tarrying  to  rectify  the  error: 
we  would  have  returned  for  the  purpose  from  Dayton, 
thirty  miles  distant,  but  a  severe  snow-storm  rendered  it 
impossible  to  traverse  the  wide  prairies,  of  which  nearly 
the  entire  distance  is  composed. 

Dayton  stands  on  the  Wild  Cat  Prairie,  seven  miles 
above  Lafayette:  I  saw  it  plainly  from  one  point,  across 
the  open  and  level  plain,  at  a  distance  of  five  miles!  Meet- 
ings there,  were  numerously  attended ;  indeed,  whatever  the 


238         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

weather,  the  house  was  always  crowded  to  inconvenience. 
This  place  strongly  reminded  me  of  Patriot,  for  the  num- 
ber and  zeal  of  our  friends  there.  I  gave  them  four  dis- 
courses, one  of  which  was  heard  by  the  Presbyterian 
clergyman,  resident  in  the  place,  who  found  fault  with  it 
for — what  think  you  reader?  its  want  of  truth  in  the  pre- 
mises? No.  The  conclusions?  No.  The  spirit  in  which 
it  was  delivered?  No:  may  I  never  offend  in  that  point  1 
What  then? — it  was  not  7nine,  but  (a  sermon  of  two  hour's  in 
length)  teas  every  word  of  it  borrowed.  Must  he  not  be  a 
magnanimous  gentleman,  that  same  Dayton  clergyman? 

Lafayette,  is  larger  than  Terre-Haute,  and  presents 
more  indications  of  growth:  it  is  surrounded  with  prairies 
on  every  hand,  though  itself  stands  on  a  strip  of  wood- 
land, on  the  margin  of  the  river.  I  began  to  preach  there 
amidst  rain,  and  mud  ankle  deep;  still  the  audience  was 
respectable:  the  next  day  succeeded  a  violent  storm  of 
snow,  through  which,  commixed  with  the  mud,  the  people 
still  turned  out  to  my  meeting;  but  I  was  compelled  to 
dismiss  them  without  a  sermon,  on  account  of  the  comfort- 
less state  of  the  Court-room.  Application  was  then  made 
to  each  of  the  orthodox  denominations  for  the  use  of  their 
houses  respectively.  They  wondered  at  our  presumption  in 
asking  for  theml  Well,  failing  in  our  attempts  to  procure 
another  building,  we  were  fain  to  have  recourse  again  to 
the  Court-house.  Our  proposed  occupancy  of  it,  on  three 
successive  evenings,  was  made  to  depend  on  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  weather  on  those  evenings:  in  this  particular, 
contrary  to  our  expectations,  and  to  appearances  when 
the  arrangement  was  made,  we  were  much  favored,  by  the 
wind  shifting  to  the  south,  and  so  remaining  during  the 
whole  of  the  time;  so  that  we  even  could  dispense  with 
a  fire  in  the  Court-house.  The  audience  was  now  large, 
and  greatly  increased  each  evening,  insomuch  that  on  the 
last  evening  we  were  put  to  it  for  seats  and  for  room; 
and  it  is  a  capacious  room  too.  The  female  part  of  the 
audience  alone,  occupied  nearly  all  the  original  seats.  It 
is  not,  however,  to  be  disguised,  that  among  these  audi- 
tors, many  were  watching  over  me  for  evil.  Still,  I  have 
reason  to  hope  that  several  of  these  were  disarmed  of 
their  prejudices,  and  were  impelled  to  exercise  their  rea- 
soning powers  in  a  new  direction.  Oh,  but  there  is  a  pro- 
digious power  in  truth,  even  when  unaccompanied  with 
the  embellishments  of  rhetoric!  Simple,  naked  truth,  de- 


OF    A    UNIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  239 

livered  even  in   feebleness  of  voice,  is  all-powerful,  and 
will  make  its  way  against  a  world  of  error. 


We  stopped  one  evening  at  the  house  of  a  Colonel  B.'s, 
near  which  I  was  to  preach,  and  our  late  arrival  left  us 
barely  time  to  sup,  while  the  people  were  gathering. 
As  we  were  thus  employed,  our  host  explained  to  us  that 
he  was  not  of  our  faith,  nor  ever  expected  to  be,  for  he 
deemed  it  in  the  highest  degree  absurd  and  unscriptural; 
but  that  we  were  not  the  less  to  feel  ourselves  at  home 
with  him,  during  our  stay  in  the  parts,  notwithstanding. 
Well,  time  was  too  brief  with  us,  just  then,  to  admit  of  our 
discussing  points  of  faith,  and  we  repaired  to  the  meeting. 
I  took  no  text  for  my  discourse  that  evening;  but  stated, 
and  argued  to,  a  proposition;  and  appointed  to  conclude 
the  argument  thereupon  the  next  evening.  We  spent  the 
day  which  intervened  with  a  Baptist  family,  who  had  in- 
vited us  on  the  score  of  a  previous  acquaintance  with 
myself  in  Susquehanna  county,  Pennsylvania.  After  the 
meeting  on  the  second  evening,  we  returned  with  Col.  B. 
Not  a  word  was  said  relative  to  the  preaching  for  a  con- 
siderable time;  on  the  contrary,  our  host  seemed  inclined 
to  be  taciturn,  on  that  and  all  other  topics.  At  length, 
however,  he  broke  silence  in  nearly  the  following  words, 

"Well,  gentlemen,  I'll  tell  you  what  has  been  passing  in 
my  mind;  1  have  been  thinking  that  if  all  the  world  could 
have  been  present  and  heard  those  two  sermons,  there 
could  no  intelligent  mind  have  withheld  its  assent  to  the 
truth  of  Universalism." 

"Whatl"  exclaimed  we,  "the  doctrine  which  you  yes- 
terday evening  pronounced  in  the  highest  degree  absurd?''' 

"  Yes,  gentlemen,  the  very  same.  Yet  so  it  is,  I  now 
am  compelled  to  regard  it  in  an  altogether  different  light. 
I  tried,  too,  when  feeling  myself  pressed  by  the  arguments 
of  the  two  discourses,  to  withstand  their  influence;  to  in- 
trench myself  behind  the  usual  subterfuges  and  evasions; 
but  all  would  not  do.  I  was  anticipated  by  the  preacher: 
I  was  driven  successively  from  every  sculking  place;  in 
short,  gentlemen,  I  was  compelled  to  become,  what  I  now 
confess  myself,  however  reluctantly,  a  Universalist." 

Thus  far  on  our  journey  our  encouragements  respecting 
the  good  cause  greatly  exceeded  our  prior  expectations. 
A  general  spirit  of  inquiry  was  waked  up,  which  has  since 
continued  to  manifest  itself  to  the  present  time.     I  never 


240         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AI^D  TRAVELS 

before  visited  a  region  of  country  where  no  preacher  of 
our  faith  had  ever  previously  been,  in  which  1  found  so 
many  disposed  to  welcome  me,  and  to  hear  my  message 
with  gladness.  At  Terre-Haute,  at  Lafayette,  at  Dayton, 
and  at  Greencastle,  the  most  positive  assurances  were 
given,  that  if  I  would  return  in  the  summer  ensuing,  a 
society  could  be  organized,  and  a  meeting-house  erected 
at  each  of  those  places;  and  I  doubt  not  that  these  decla- 
rations would  have  been  verified. 

We  found  the  road  between  Lafayette  and  Crawfords- 
ville  a  very  difficult  one;  the  waters  were  high,  and  sev- 
eral of  the  bridges  over  the  smaller  streams  were  under 
water.  When^we  arrived  at  the  last  stream  to  be  crossed, 
it  was  night,  and  as  a  heavy  thunder-storm  had  com- 
menced, it  was  intensely  dark;  the  stream  was  very  deep, 
and  so  extremely  rapid,  that  had  we  attempted  to  ford  it, 
we  should  inevitably  have  perished.  There  was  a  flat-boat 
kept  by  a  man  on  the  opposite  shore,  but  he  declared  it 
impossible  to  stem  the  current  with  the  small  assistance 
he  had.  To  have  gone  back  we  must  have  groped  our 
way  by  a  blind  sort  of  road  for  four  miles;  so  we  prefer- 
red to  sit  on  our  horses  in  the  woods,  amidst  thunder  and 
lightning  and  rain,  until  the  storm  had  abated,  when,  with 
considerable  coaxing,  we  got  the  ferryman  over;  his  wife 
lending  her  assistance  as  steersman.  We  had  scarcely 
disposed  of  our  horses  and  got  fairly  housed  in  Crawfords- 
ville,  ere  the  rain  commenced  descending  in  torrents, 
which  continued  the  case,  with  scarcely  any  abatement, 
the  whole  night. 

Crawfordsville  is  the  seat  of  a  Presbyterian  seminary, 
and  contained  then,  as  was  thought,  about  two  thousand 
souls.  I  delivered  several  discourses  there  on  prominent 
doctrinal  topics,  which  were  listened  to  by  very  large 
audiences,  including  the  clergymen  of  the  several  denomi- 
nations in  the  place,  and  the  Faculty  of  the  College. 

We  stopped  two  nights  on  our  way  from  Crawfordsville 
with  a  Mr.  Fosher,  at  Blakesburg,  a  burg  which  consists 
of  one  house,  where  I  delivered  two  discourses;  and  learn- 
ed that  there  were  a  number  of  Universalists  scattered 
through  the  adjacent  country.  Some  of  whom  were  pre- 
sent at  my  meetings;  but  the  greater  number  were  deterred 
from  going  by  the  darkness  of  the  nights,  and  the  distance 
at  which  they  lived. 

We  had  an  opportunity,  on  our  return  route,  of  seeing 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  241 

the  roads  of  Indiana  in  nearly  their  worst  plight;  and  that 
plight  was  quite  as  bad  as  we  cared  to  have  it.  Between 
Shelbyville  and  Indianapolis,  I  was  busily  occupied  all  of 
one  day  in  journeying  twelve  miles;  this  was  across  the 
Brandywine  Flats.  Still,  on  the  whole,  and  considering 
that  we  were  heretics,  we  were  much  favored.  We  had 
no  bill  of  complaint  to  file  against  Providence;  on  the 
contrary,  we  got  but  one  regular  drenching  on  our  whole 
tour  of  eight  weeks  duration,  and  embracing  in  all  five 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  travel.  In  several  instances, 
had  we  failed  by  a  single  day  to  reach  a  given  place,  we 
would  have  been  detained  for  days  by  the  high  state  of  the 
streams  in  the  route.  We  found  many  pleasant  friends, 
and  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  the  most  cheering  evi- 
dences that  our  cause  needed  but  to  be  faithfully  presented 
in  that  region  to  insure  its  success. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

Visits  New  Orleans,  and  other  portions  of  Louisiana — Re-visits 
Pittsburg — Priestly  sway  in  that  quarter — Travels  in  Northern 
Ohio — Universalism  in  death. 

I  had  pledged  my  word  to  a  Post-master,  in  Louisiana, 
that  I  would  visit  his  neighborhood  during  the  winter  or 
spring  of  1838;  and  he,  on  his  part,  had  promised  that  one- 
half  my  expenses  thither  and  back  should  be  reimbursed. 
Some  considerable  time  had  elapsed  since  these  reciprocal 
promises,  and  the  state  of  business  and  finances  had  un- 
dergone a  great  depression  at  the  South,  meanwhile.  I 
doubted,  therefore,  whether  the  Post-masters'  part  of 
the  contract  could  be  fulfilled,  but  that  doubt  did  not  ac- 
quit me  of  the  obligation  of  fulfilling  mine.  Accordingly, 
on  Saturday,  March  11th,  1838,  I  took  passage  for  Louis- 
ville, on  the  deck  of  the  Ben  Franklin  :  those  of  my 
readers  who  know  what  a  deck  passage  on  our  western 
boats  is,  will  not  much  envy  me  my  comfort,  I  think.  How- 
ever, the  difference  in  price  between  a  deck  and  cabin 
passage  is  full  three-fourths,  and  my  circumstances  re- 
quired that  at  every  sacrifice  of  pride  and  comfort  I  should 


242         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

make  the  saving,  for  the  cabin  passage  in  those  days  cost 
some  forty  dollars  from  Cincinnati  to  New  Orleans. 

Reached  Louisville  Sunday  morning  at  day  break, 
called  on  Gad  Chapin,  with  whom  I  tarried,  and  by  whom 
I  have  ever  found  myself  cheerfully  welcomed.  1  tarried 
there  over  the  day,  but  did  no  more  than  preach  a  funeral 
sermon  in  a  private  house,  for  we  then  had  no  church  nor 
society  in  that  city. 

I  left  Louisville  on  the  15th,  for  Evansville,  in  the  John 
Jay,  a  St.  Louis  boat.  Among  the  passengers  bound  for 
the  far  West,  were  about  a  dozen  Indians,  of  the  Sac 
nation;  their  home,  I  believe,  is  near  the  foot  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  Arrived  at  Evansville;  I  strolled  about  the 
town  for  awhile,  trying  the  chances  for  Universalist  preach- 
ing; but  as  the  streets  were  perfect  ditches  after  a  rain 
that  had  recently  fallen,  and  the  weather  was  very  com- 
fortless, I  judged  it  best  not  to  lose  time  in  problematical 
experiments,  the  season  too  being  so  far  advanced.  1 
therefore  returned  to  the  landing,  and  took  passage  for 
Smithland,  in  the  Emperor,  the  largest  boat  on  the  Ohio 
waters. 

Evansville,  I  judged,  from  improvements  then  in  pros- 
pect, was  destined  to  be  to  the  Wabash,  what  Cincinnati  is 
to  the  Miami  country;  and  possibly  to  be  to  Indiana,  what 
Cincinnati  is  to  Ohio.  At  least  capital  and  enterprise 
could  effect  such  a  result;  and  in  that  case,  what  western 
city,  New  Orleans  excepted,  could  successfully  vie  with 
Evansville?  Its  situation,  two  hundred  miles  below  the 
falls  of  the  river,  would  be  of  great  advantage  to  it,  and 
it  could  easily  be  made  the  depot  for  the  immense  pro- 
ducts of  the  great  and  fertile  valley  of  the  Wabash.  Its 
greater  proximity  to  the  southern  market  would  give  it 
advantages  over  both  Cincinnati  and  Louisville.  Never- 
theless, it  is  at  present  but  an  insignificant  village,  and  is 
likely  not  very  rapidly  to  bocome  much  else,  for  the  shriv- 
elled, and  withering  hand  of  avarice  is  upon  it:  those  who 
own  the  ground,  cling  to  it  with  miserly  tenacity,  fearful 
of  selling  it  for  too  little,  if  they  sell  it  too  soon;  and  the 
consequence  is,  and  possibly  may  be  for  years  to  come, 
that  other  towns,  with  very  inferior  advantages  of  situa- 
tion, are  outstripping  it  in  growth  and  business. 

My  fellow  passengers,  bating  some  two  or  three  profes- 
sional gentlemen — I  have  no  reference  to  what  are  termed 
the  learned  professions — were  quite  orderly  and  intelligent. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  243 

Amongst  them  were  two  Quakers;  one  of  the  still,  and  one 
of  the  shaking. class.  The  latter  was  a  hale  looking  sub- 
ject of  rotundity,  with  a  benevolent  and  jocund  cast  of 
countenance,  evidently  a  lover  of  fun  and  good  cheer, 
whose  complacency  and  corpulency  did  ample  honor  to 
his  keeping.  Some  of  the  company  roguishly  attempted 
to  addle  the  old  gentleman's  brain  with  the  fumes  of  Cham- 
paigne,  but  the  result  proved  that  his  brain  was  not  so 
utter  a  stranger  to  that  sort  of  fumes  as  to  be  easily  ad- 
dled thereby. 

The  passage  to  Smithland,  although  but  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  from  Evansville,  occupied  two  days  and 
nights,  owing  to  the  frequent  stops  that  were  made  in  col- 
lecting freight.  The  passengers  had  ascertained  my  pro- 
fession, and  towards  night  on  Saturday  a  note  was  handed 
me,  containing  a  request  that  I  would  deliver  a  sermon  so 
soon  as  the  supper  table  should  be  cleared,  with  which 
request  I  complied,  and  was  listened  to  with  quiet  and  re- 
spectful attention.  In  my  discourse,  for  which,  as  is  fre- 
quently my  practice,  I  took  no  text,  I  endeavored,  First,  to 
prove,  philosophically,  that  a  virtuous  and  religious  life 
brings  with  it  its  own  reward ;  and  that  a  vicious  life  must 
necessarily  entail  its  own  punishment.  And,  secondly,  1 
proved  the  entire  harmony  of  this  philosophy  with  the 
uniform  teachings  of  the  Scriptures,  and  vindicated  Chris- 
tianity against  that  class  of  objections  which  have  grown 
out  of  the  false  lights  in  which  it  has  been  presented  by 
what  are  termed  orthodox  divines. 

I  left  Smithland  about  ten  o'clock  on  Tuesday  night, 
March  22d,  in  a  descending  boat,  but  she  proved  to  be 
bound  to  St.  Louis,  and  I  was  therefore  under  the  neces- 
sity of  disembarking  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  where  we 
arrived  early  next  morning,  and  where  I  spent  two  rather 
lonesome  days  waiting  for  another  boat.  No  less  than  six 
passed  by  in  the  time,  but  all  bound  for  St.  Louis.  Twice 
in  one  night  I  was  aroused  from  my  sleep  by  the  landlord's 
notice  of  *'  A  boat  coming,  sir!"  On  went  my  clothes,  in  the 
greatest  possible  hurry,  and  down  to  the  landing  I  scram- 
bled, with  eyes  but  half  opened,  and  senses  but  half 
aroused;  and  then  finding,  after  all  the  fuss,  that  the  boat's 
destination  was  up  the  Mississippi,  instead  of  down,  I  would 
return  to  my  bed,  muttering  discontent  at  all  the  boats  for 
having  entered  in  a  combination  to  go  in  a  wrong  direc- 
tion. 


244         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

March  25.  Embarked  in  the  Lexington,  for  Bayou 
Sara,  with  as  motley  a  company  as  the  deluvian  patriarch 
had  with  him  in  his  ark.  Besides  the  passengers,  which 
above  and  below  were  very  numerous,  and  of  all  colors, 
we  had  horses,  cows,  pigs,  fowls  of  different  kinds,  and  the 
Lord  knows  what  all.  I  tried  a  deck  passage  again,  and 
found  it  quite  tolerable,  by  reason  of  the  very  respectable 
character  of  my  companions.  Most  of  them  were  religious, 
one  a  Cumberland  Presbyterian  preacher,  with  whom  1 
became  quite  intimate,  and  two  families  of  Christian  Bap- 
tists, (yclept  Campbellites)  who  regaled  us  with  some  fine 
singing  every  evening. 

By  the  way,  I  like  the  christians  of  this  school  very 
much,  on  some  accounts.  They  manifest  a  good  degree  of 
acquaintance  with  their  Bibles;  and  I  ever  consider  that 
those  who  do  so,  are  better  entitled  to  their  particular  faith, 
than  are  those  who  have  never  been  at  the  pains  of  form- 
ing it  for  themselves  from  the  sacred  oracles.  They  are, 
moreover,  decidedly  more  liberal  in  their  spirit  and  prac- 
tice, than  are  the  generality  of  christian  professors.  They 
are  the  only  people,  besides  ourselves,  whose  meeting- 
houses are  free  to  the  use  of  religious  ministers  of  every 
name.  This  is  creditable  to  them,  and  may  God  grant 
them  success  in  proportion  to  the  true  christian  liberality 
they  practice.  Nevertheless,  I  have  somewhat  against  this 
class  of  our  christian  brethren.  They  are  apt  to  be  dog- 
matical, and  to  dignify  their  opinions  with  the  title  of 
facts;  all  they  advance  is  fact,  and  most  or  all  advanced 
by  others,  is  opinion;  a  distinction  flattering  enough  to 
themselves,  to  be  sure,  but  one  which  truth  does  not 
justify. 

"  It  is  just  as  cheap  on  my  part,"  said  I  to  one  of  my 
traveling  companions,  "  to  arrogate  this  proud  distinction 
for  my  doctrines,  as  on  your  part  to  arrogate  it  for  yours; 
but  the  assumption  proves  nothing  in  either  case.  The 
Trinitarian  may  say,  it  is  Q.fact  that  God  subsists  in  three 
persons;  the  Unitarian  may  say,  it  is  a.  fact  that  he  subsists 
in  but  one.  The  Arminian  may  claim  it  as  a  clearly  re- 
vealed fact,  that  God  has  made  salvation  possible  to  all, 
whilst  the  Universal ist  feels  himself  equally  entitled  to 
state  as  a  fact,  that  he  has  made  it  sure  to  all.  The  Pedo 
Baptist  insists  on  its  being  a  fact,  that  baptism  was  prac- 
tised in  such  form,  and  upon  such  subjects,  in  the  apostolic 
age;  and  the  Anti-Pedo,  asserts  the  contrary  as  fact.  Who, 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER  245 

now,  of  all  these,  shall  assume  with  a  better  right  than 
may  others,  that  on  his  side  alone  is  fact,  and  all  opposed 
to  it  is  opinionV 

Our  boat  stopped  an  hour  or  more  at  Memphis.  It  was 
then  a  less  considerable  place  than  I  had  supposed,  but  has 
since  grown  into  the  magnitude  of  a  city.  Its  situation  is 
unsurpassed  by  any  on  the  river :  it  is  a  table  bluff  of 
some  fifty  feet  above  the  water  level,  always  secure  of  a 
good  breeze,  one  would  suppose,  and  consequently,  of  good 
health;  but  fact  is  opposed  to  theory  respecting  the  latter. 

While  at  Memphis,  the  cabin  passengers  became  aware 
of  my  profession,  and  the  discovery  led  to  a  request  that 
I  would  deliver  a  discourse  in  the  cabin  that  evening.  I 
agreed,  on  the  condition  that  there  should  be  no  dissenting 
voices  :  the  applicants  assured  me  that  the  arrangements 
should  not  be  made  until  that  point  was  ascertained.  At 
the  appointed  time,  they  came  and  informed  me  that  all 
things  were  in  readiness,  and  that  an  unanimous  consent 
had  been  expressed.  I  accordingly  went  up,  found  the 
chairs  ranged  side  by  side,  in  order,  and  well  filled  by  both 
the  gentlemen  and  lady  passengers.  I  spoke  about  an 
hour,  and  had  every  reason  to  be  satisfied  on  the  score  of 
attention  and  good  behavior.  I  was  apprehensive,  how- 
ever, during  the  whole  time  of  speaking,  that  my  feeble 
voice  was  unheard  amidst  the  noises  of  the  engine  and  the 
escape-pipe;  but  I  afterwards  learned,  that  my  fears  on 
that  hand  were  groundless. 

Oh,  what  mortification  has  my  feminine  voice  often 
caused  me,  especially  when  addressing,  (which  is  much 
oftener  the  case  than  otherwise,)  large  collections  of  peo- 
ple:  under  such  circumstances,  I  have  most  sensibly  sym- 
pathised with  the  poet's  wish  : 

"  O  for  a  trumpet's  voice, 
On  all  the  world  to  call — 
To  bid  their  hearts  rejoice 
In  Him  who  died  for  all." 

But  wishes  of  this  nature  are  fruitless:  we  must  be  con- 
tent with  such  powers  as  we  find  ourselves  to  possess. 
Without  doubt,  all  things  are  best  as  they  are,  whether  we 
see  them  to  be  so  or  not;  and  I  may  interpret  the  feeble- 
ness of  my  vocal  faculties,  as  a  clear  indication  on  the 
part  of  Madam  Nature,  that  she  did  not  design  me  to  make 
much  noise  in  the  world. " 

We  stopped  about  two  hours  at  Vicksburg.     It  was  the 


246         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

Sabbath,  but  I  should  not  have  known  it  from  the  aspect  of 
things  in  the  town;  for  according  to  the  prevalent  heathen- 
ish custom  down  that  way,  the  operations  of  business  were 
going  on  as  briskly  as  on  other  days.  Vicksburg  is  well 
built,  most  of  the  houses  were  good,  and  many  of  them 
elegant;  its  situation,  however,  is  far  from  agreeable;  it 
inclines  to  the  river  in  an  angle  of  some  twenty  de- 
grees or  more,  and,  besides,  the  face  of  the  ground  is  very 
irregular;  moreover,  the  inclination  is  towards  the  south 
and  west,  and  for  most  of  the  day  is  to  be  found  no  out- 
of-doors  retreat  from  the  burning  sun. 

On  waking  up  the  next  morning  [  found  the  boat  at 
Natchez,  and  ascertaining  that  1  could  employ  several 
hours  in  the  business,  1  toiled  up  the  long  dug  road  to  the 
top  of  the  bluff,  and  took  a  thorough  survey  of  the  town 
and  its  environs;  and  ohl  I  found  them  to  be  most  roman- 
tically beautiful  I  they  seemed  the  more  so,  from  the  con- 
trast of  climate  as  compared  with  Cincinnati,  which  but  a 
week  or  two  before  1  had  seen  covered  with  snow,  whilst 
here  I  found  nature  smiling  in  the  lap  of  summer.  The 
trees  and  gardens  luxuriating  in  the  vivifying  warmth  of 
a  sun  as  hot  as  ours  in  July!  But  of  Natchez  on  the  hill, 
and  its  nondescript  adjunct  below,  more  notice  must  be 
taken. 


I  have  said  that  Natchez  is  a  beautiful  romantically 
place;  and  so  in  truth  it  is;  no  imaginative  mind  can  fail 
of  being  charmed  with  it,  at  least  in  the  season  of  vegeta- 
tion. It  is  so  embowered  amidst  trees,  principally  the 
beautiful  China,  and  shrubbery  of  most  luxuriant  growth; 
its  gardens  are  so  tastefully  laid  out,  and  so  skillfully  cul- 
tivated; and  altogether  from  these  causes,  though  a  large 
and  compact  town,  it  has  so  rural  an  appearance,  that  the 
mind  must  be  of  a  square-cornered,  drab-coated  description, 
indeed,  which  can  contemplate  without  admiring  it.  Be- 
tween the  upper  and  lower  towns  is  a  bluff,  which  by  the 
eye  I  should  judge  to  be  at  least  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
in  altitude,  nearly  perpendicular  in  some  places,  and  beet- 
ling over  the  town  below  in  others.  The  picturesqueness 
of  this  bluff  is  heightened  by  the  fact  that  its  side  is  cov- 
ered with  a  rich  profusion  of  bushes  and  small  trees.  A 
graduated  road  has  been  formed  to  the  summit  of  the 
bluff,  in  an  oblique  direction;  the  ascent  is  somewhat  toil- 
some, and  when  the  ground  is  wet  must  be  exceedingly  so. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  247 

Some  estimate  of  the  business  of  Natchez  may  be  formed 
from  the  great  number  of  flat-boats,  ( these  considerably 
exceeded  a  hundred  when  I  was  there )  and  other  river 
craft  lying  at  its  landing.  But  what  shall  I  say  of  Natchez 
under  the  hill?  In  good  truth  I  don't  know  ;  it  utterly 
defies  my  descriptive  powers;  a  more  ugly  place,  certainly 
more  inconvenient,  dirty,  irregular,  and  huddled  together, 
was  never  imagined,  and  never  can  be.  It  formerly,  if 
report  belie  it  not,  was  as  odious  in  a  moral  point  of  view 
as  in  a  physical;  but  in  this  respect,  I  am  happy  to  say,  it 
has  undergone  some  improvement. 

It  was  ten  o'clock  in  the  night  when  the  boat  touched  at 
Bayou  Sara.  Not  choosing  to  disembark  at  such  an  hour, 
I  concluded  to  keep  on  down  to  New  Orleans;  more  es- 
pecially as  I  could  get  no  information  as  to  the  direction 
or  distance  of  Richland  Hill,  my  place  of  destination,  from 
Bayou  Sara. 

Not  choosing  to  disembark,  I  have  said;  but  suppose  I 
expose  the  real  cause  to  the  reader,  and  make  a  clean 
breat  about  it.  Well,  the  real  truth  is,  then,  that  I  had 
but  just  three  dollars  in  my  pocket;  that  amount,  in  tliose 
days,  would  not  have  defrayed  my  hotel  charges  at  Bayou 
Sara  until  the  stage  went  out  to  Richland  Hill,  where  my 
friend,  the  Post-master,  lived;  and  I  therefore  was  com- 
pelled to  keep  on  to  New  Orleans.     Nolens  volens. 

We  received  some  additional  passengers  for  the  city  at 
Bayou  Sara;  they  were  of  a  most  ragamuffin  description; 
(Xit  at  elbows,  bloated  and  carbuncled  with  dram-drinking, 
and  addicted  to  the  genteel  habit  of  embellishing  every 
sentence  they  uttered  with  an  oath.  These  exquisites  had 
by  some  means  got  possession  of  some  pious  tracts,  which, 
as  they  wanted  a  little  change  with  which  to  commence 
gambling  operations,  they  were  willing  to  dispose  of  at 
the  moderate  rate  of  three  hits  ( thirty-seven  and  a  half 
cents)  apiece.  "Cheap  as  dirt,  gentlemen,  by  G-d!  the 
pictures  could  not  be  drawn  for  the  money,  if  they  could 
d — e!  Here's  one  about  the  death  of  an  infidel;  that,  gen- 
tlemen, means  them  as  aint  got  no  religion;  see,  here  h@ 
is,  his  name  is  Francis  Newport  :  if  he  did'nt  die  game, 
PUbed— d!"  etc.,  etc. 

Unfortunately  for  our  tatterdemalions,  books  of  every 
description  find  but  a  dull  market  in  the  South;  and  they 
next  resorted  to  the  expedient  of  dividing  cards  into  quar- 
ters, making  each  part   to  represent  two  hits;  i.  e.  two 


248         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

twelve-and-a-half  cent  pieces;  and  on  this  false  capital, 
this  shin-plaster  currency,  they  commenced  operations 
with  dice,  and  were  not  long  in  finding  fools  to  patronize 
their  knavery. 

Were  you  ever  down  that  way,  reader?  If  not,  I  would 
advise  you  to  hesitate  ere  you  assert  that  you  have  seen 
the  fairest  portion  of  America.  O,  but  it  is  exquisitely 
pretty — jpretty  is  a  proper  term  for  it;  for  it  is  not  sublime, 
it  is  not  grand,  it  is  not  romantic;  it  is  merely,  but  ex- 
quisitely pretty.  The  river  was  at  a  high  stage,  and  as 
the  broad  alluvial  tracts  on  either  hand  are  some  feet 
below  the  water  level,  we  could  perfectly  survey  the  whole 
scene.  Many  specimens  of  novel  architecture  may  there 
be  seen;  many  that  are  quite  unique,  nearly  all  are  elegant; 
and  with  the  object  of  tasteful  display,  they  combine  the 
ne  plus  ultra  of  comfort.  Some  of  them  are  very  lordly 
edifices;  and  the  sugar-houses  make  no  contemptible  figure : 
many  of  them  being  surmounted  with  a  dome,  or  a  spire, 
and  might  easily,  by  the  stranger,  be  mistaken  for  large 
churches. 

Nor  are  churches  wanting  to  complete  the  picture;  they 
occur  with  very  creditable  frequency,  and  are  usually 
very  decent  buildings.  1  doubt  if  the  protestant  portions 
of  our  country  present  a  larger  proportion  of  this  class  of 
buildings,  than  do  these  shores,  peopled,  as  they  are,  with 
Americo-Gallican  Catholics.  It  would,  perhaps,  not  be 
exceeding  the  truth  to  say,  that  if  the  buildings  of  all 
kinds,  including  stables,  slave-quartes,  etc.,  from  Bayou 
Sara  downward,  were  ranged  in  one  row,  each  shore 
would  present  an  unbroken  contiguity  of  edifices. 

The  weather  was  most  lovely  when  I  floated  down  through 
this  scene,  at  the  rate  of  twelve  miles  an  hour.  Anxious 
to  see  all  that  was  to  be  seen,  I  posted  myself  behind  the 
wheel-house,  on  the  hurrican  deck;  but  my  situation, 
nevertheless,  was  like  that  of  a  hungry  ass  between  two 
locks  of  hay,  whilst  I  gazed  on  the  objects  which  passed 
my  eye  so  rapidly  on  the  one  bank,  1  lost  the  view  of 
hoset  upon  the  other. 

March  27.  My  narrative  shall  now  assume  the  form  of 
a  diary.  Reached  New  Orleans  towards  night.  Knew 
not  the  name  of  a  single  Universalist  in  the  place;  knew 
not  if  it  even  contained  a  biped  of  the  kind.  A  fellow 
passenger  from  Ohio  happening  to  have  business  with  the 
Kev.  Mr.  Clapp,  I  obtained  his  company  to  the  residence 


OF   A  TJNIVERSALIST  PREACHER,  249 

of  that  gentleman;  who  received  me  cordially,  and  gave 
me  the  names  of  two  or  three  co-believers  in  the  city. 

A  stranger  here  does  not  find  very  ready  hospitality,  for 
several  reasons.  There  are  many  men  who  trade  here 
only  during  the  winters,  and  who  therefore  do  not  keep 
house.  Such  is  the  high  price  of  board,  ten  and  twelve 
dollars  a  week  for  that  which  is  ordinary,  that  many  of 
these  economise  by  keeping  bachelor  establishments  back 
of,  or  above,  their  store  rooms.  For  these  store  rooms 
they  pay  enormous  rents,  and  they  naturally  wish  to  get 
out  of  them  all  the  use  they  honestly  can.  Moreover, 
where  the  influx  of  strangers  is  so  great  and  constant,  as 
in  New  Orleans,  it  will  naturally  tend  to  repress  the 
hospitable  propensities  of  the  few  who  have  their  domestic 
establishments  in  the  city. 

Owing  to  these  causes,  I  had  made  three  calls,  and  it 
had  become  night;  and,  although  1  had  in  every  instance 
been  cordially  received,  I  knew  not  how  to  dispose  of  my- 
self, for  I  had  received  no  invitation  to  a  permanent  abode 
with  either,  during  my  stay;  my  baggage  was  still  in  the 
boat,  and,  to  confess  the  truth,  the  expenses  of  the  journey 
had  so  nearly  consumed  my  scanty  means,  that  I  could 
scarcely  have  maintained  myself  twenty- four  hours  in  a 
place  like  New  Orleans. 

In  this  posture  of  things,  I  concluded,  after  some  strug- 
gle with  my  pride,  to  hint  my  situation  to  the  last  person 
(Mr.  Carrico)  on  whom  I  called;  who  very  promptly  put 
my  mind  at  rest  by  accompanying  me  to  a  boarding  house, 
and  taking  upon  himself  the  pecuniary  resposibility.  So 
here  I  am,  with  my  bark  in  port,  anchored,  and  all  snug. 

My  boarding  house  is  a  three  storied  brick,  the  lower 
story  of  which  is  used  as  a  store,  and  only  the  two  upper 
ones  as  a  dwelling;  these  comprise  four  lodging  rooms,  a 
parlor,  and  a  dining  room.  The  entrance  to  the  house 
from  the  street,  is  by  a  long  narrow  passage,  paved  with 
brick,  which  conducts  into  a  back  yard;  from  whence  an 
open  flight  of  stairs  ascends  to  a  piaza,  or  gallery,  as  it  is 
here  called;  and  for  the  dwelling  part  of  this  house  is 
paid  the  enormous  rent  of  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
dollars  per  annum. 

March  28.     Called  this  morning  on  Mr.  Carrico,  who 

informed  ,ne  of  John  Hilton,  whom  he  had  seen,  and  who 

had  requested  an  introduction  to  me.      To  Mr.  Hilton's 

we  therefore  went,  who  cordially  invited  me  to  make  his 

17 


250         EXPEHIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

house  my  home  during  my  visit;  to  which  overture  I,  of 
course,  gladly  acceded.  Dined  with  Rev.  Mr.  Clapp,  in 
compliance  with  his  invitation  of  yesterday.  Preached 
my  first  sermon  this  evening  in  Mr.  Hilton's  front  parlor. 
The  meeting  was  not  appointed  till  after  supper:  it  was 
composed  of  some  of  the  neighbors  from  the  contiguous 
block  of  buildings.  Amongst  them  was  a  lady  of  my  own 
name,  and  faith  also,  to  whom  I  had  formerly  been  intro- 
duced at  Smithland,  Kentucky.  Mr.  and  Mi-s.  Hilton  are 
from  Massachusetts.  The  first  Universalist  sermon  ever 
delivered  in  their  native  town,  was  preached  under  their 
roof.  Of  coui'se,  then,  I  feel  myself  most  perfectly  at 
liome  here, 

I  am  constantly  meeting  with  strange,  and  in  many 
cases,  very  fortunate  coincidences.  Why  should  the  lady 
from  Smithland,  for  example,  happen  to  be  in  the  only 
block  of  buildings,  among  a  thousand,  to  which  the  know- 
ledge of  my  first  meeting  in  this  city  was  confined.  As  I 
was  coming  down  the  river,  a  fellow  passenger  informed 
me  of  Mr.  Hilton,  and  of  his  zeal  in  our  cause;  but  I  had 
utterly  forgotten  this,  and  even  if  I  had  not,  I  might  have 
sought  for  him  a  week  without  success.  But  behold,  with- 
out any  agency  of  mine,  I  am  thus  early  become  his  guest, 
My  readers  will  have  seen  that  in  the  fall  of  1833,  1  met 
with  an  old  gentleman  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  who 
told  me,  in  tears,  that  he  was  about  to  emigrate  to  the 
West,  he  knew  not  whither;  and  that,  though  at  the  time  I 
had  no  idea  of  ever  seeing  the  country  west  of  the  moun- 
tains, it  yet  so  happened  that  I  visited  Ohio  the  following 
winter,  and  blundered,  in  my  desultory  rambles,  into  the 
very  town,  where,  without  my  knowledge,  my  old  friend 
had  taken  up  his  abode,  and  that  I  united  his  daughter  in 
marriage  to  a  citizen  of  that  country. 

April  1.  Attended  service  in  the  morning  at  Mr.  Clapp's 
church,  and  heard  a  sermon  from  him  replete  with  sound 
sense  and  useful  instruction.  Mr.  C.  is  not  non-committal 
in  theology,  at  least  I  should  so  judge  from  that  sermon. 
The  following  passage  is  sufficiently  significant  of  his 
religious  faith.  "  I  cannot  love  a  God  who  would  create 
an  absolute  evil;  I  cannot  love  a  God  who  would  permit 
an  absolute  evil  ;  I  cannot  love  a  God,  who,  having  the 
power,  would  not  prevent  an  absolute  evil." 

Attended  service  at  the  Methodist  church  at  four  o'clock. 
This  is  the  usual  hour  for  afternoon  meetings  here;  the 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  25  f 

general  dinner  hour  being  three  o'clock.  The  sermon 
was  long,  rambling,  pointless,  an  intellectual  anodyne;  in 
vulgar  parlance,  it  was  a  hore.  When  it  ended — for  the 
longest  things  will  end,  thank  God  —  up  rose  another 
speaker,  who  scolded  us  who  were  present  for  being  so 
.few,  which  we  could  no  more  help  than  we  can  help  being 
damned,  if  God  made  us  for  that  merciful  purpose.  He 
next  condescended  to  illumine  our  understandings  in  re- 
gard to  a  prodigious  difference  of  opinion  between  himself 
and  his  Calvinistic  brethren.  In  the  opinion  of  the  former, 
repentance  takes  place  hefore  regeneration.  In  the  opinion 
of  the  latter,  it  taketh  place  aftericard.  Pity  it  is  that  all 
Christendom  cannot  be  convoked  in  council  to  settle  this 
mighty  issue.  However,  as  I  could  discover  no  particular 
connection  between  this  question  and  the  discovery  of  the 
longitude,  and  as  it  wore  towards  night,  I  anticipated  the 
dismissal,  and  went,  according  to  engagement,  to  sup  with 
Mr.  C.  Delivered  at  candle-light  the  first  of  my  lectures 
in  his  church;  audience  pretty  good;  considered  very  good 
for  a  night  meeting  in  New  Orleans  :  such  not  being  usual 
here.  Mr.  C.'s  church  is  nearly  opposite  St.  Charles 
^rheatre  :  it  strikes  the  northern  man  as  a  novelty  to  see 
the  plays  and  masquerade-balls  in  operation  on  Sabbath 
evenings. 

April  2,  3,  4.  Preached  each  of  these  evenings  to  con- 
gregations not  exceeding  a  hundred  persons;  but  they  are 
mostly,  I  am  told,  of  a  highly  respectable  and  intelligent 
class.  Meanwhile  I  am  finding  friends,  Universalists, 
mostly  from  Massachusetts.  Massachusetts  has  a  huge 
account  of  heresy  to  answer  for. 

April  6.  Heard  J.  N.  MafHt  this  evening  in  the  Metho- 
dist church.  I  liked  his  personal  appearance  better  than 
when  I  had  previously  seen  him,  ten  years  ago  ;  it  is 
more  staid — years  have  sobered  it — the  undulations  of  his 
voice  are  good;  his  eye  is  fine;  his  action  theatrical,  but 
natural  to  him,  I  am  told.  I  had  no  fault  to  find,  save  with 
the  matter  of  his  discourse,  or  rather,  its  want  of  matter; 
for  there  was  actually  no  matter  in  it.  I  am  sorry  to  say 
this,  for  I  dont  wish  to  play  the  ill-natured  critic  on  Mr. 
M.  That  he  has  talent,  is  evident  from  the  length  of  time 
for  which  he  has  sustained  his  popularity.  But  his  dis- 
course to-night  was  decidedly  a  vapid  affair  ;  it  was  a 
nonentity,  without  even  the  trifling  merit  of  verbal  pretti- 
ness  to  redeem  it  from  that  character. 


252         EXPERIENCE,  LABOKS,  AI^D  TRAVELS 

April  6.  Lectured  again  this  evening  to  a  better  con- 
gregation than  I  have  previously  had.  We  begin  to  feel 
quite  encouraged.  Found  two  letters  for  me  on  the  desk, 
containing  criticisms  on  my  previous  discourses,  and  re- 
quiring my  immediate  attention  to  sundry  texts  and  diffi- 
cult cases. 

April  8.  Heard  Mr.  Clapp  again  this  forenoon,  and 
was  equally  pleased  with  him  as  on  last  Sabbath;  better, 
because  the  man  has  gained  upon  my  estimation.  Went, 
at  four  o'clock,  to  the  Presbyterian  church.  I  shall  not 
essay  a  critique  upon  the  sermon,  for  it  was  not  worth  one, 

Mr.  P.  is  the  first  preacher  of  his  denomination  w^hom  I 
have  seen  in  a  black  gown;  he  preaches  in  black  gloves, 
too;  not  to  keep  his  hands  warm,  one  would  think,  for  the 
thermometer  was  at  ninety;  neither  can  it  be  to  keep  them 
white,  for  Mr.  P.  is  a  pious  man,  and  pious  men  are  not 
proud.  Well,  we  will  not  divine  the  motive.  Mr.  P. 
throws  himself  back  on  his  seat  with  much  studied  grace, 
in  the  intervals  of  his  exercises;  and  he  fans  himself  with 
a  good  degree  of  parlor  elegance,  which,  who  can  blame? 
for  the  preacher  is  seen  by  many  eyes,  ladies'  eyes  among 
the  rest,  and  he  therefore  ought  to  be  seen  to  advantage. 
Heigho!  none  who  regards  Mr.  P.  as  divinely  called,  can 
doubt  that  "God  hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  this 
world,"  etc. 

April  8.  1838.  I  preached  this  evening,  the  concluding 
sermon  of  the  series,  to  a  better  audience  than  had  attend- 
ed before.  The  subjects  of  discourse  were  furnished  by 
three  letters,  which  1  found  in  the  pulpit,  all  requiring  to 
be  attended  to  that  evening.  I  read  them  audibly,  and  an- 
swered them  in  course.  The  subjects  of  these  letters 
were — ^let  me  see,  what  were  they  ?  I  can  remember 
amongst  them  the  following:  The  unpardonable  sin;  the 
resurrection  to  life  and  to  damnation;  to  Matthew,  xxv. 
46,  with  particular  reference  to  the  antithesis  in  said 
verse;  the  case  of  a  suicide,  and  of  two  persons  who  kill 
each  other  in  a  duel ;  Paul's  meaning,  where  he  speaks 
of  some  as  "  not  accepting  deliverance,  (from  persecution) 
that  they  might  obtain  a  better  resurrection,"  etc.,  etc. 
A  rather  long  and  varied  text  for  one  poor  sermon. 

1  found,  towards  the  close  of  my  stay,  no  lack  of  friends 
in  New  Orleans;  good,  warm-hearted,  and  liberal  friends. 
Never,  indeed,  has  it  been  my  good  fortune  to  find  more 
and  better  i  nany  place.    I  was  laid  under  obligations  by 


OF    A   UNIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  253 

the  kindness  of  all,  and  it  were  invidious  to  discriminate 
amongst  them.  I  doubt,  if  a  half  dozen  sermons,  by  pro- 
fessed Universalists,  had  been  previously  preached  there. 
Strange,  that  so  interesting  and  important  a  city  should 
have  remained  thus  long  neglected  !  I  found  that  New 
Orleans  is  a  truly  elegant  city.  Most  of  its  streets  are 
paved,  cleanly,  and  graced  with  superb  buildings;  some  of 
an  unique  and  truly  picturesque  construction.  And  as  to 
the  people,  they  are,  if  I  can  trust  appearances,  not  mere- 
ly equally  moral  as  those  of  other  western  cities,  but  they 
are  also  cordial,  and  high-minded. 

April  10.  I  left  New  Orleans  for  Bayou  Sara,  to  which 
place  I  obtained  a  free  passage;  the  usual  charge  was  from 
ten  to  twelve  dollars.  I  learned  at  Bayou  Sara,  that  Rich- 
land Hill  is  but  the  name  of  a  post-office,  about  thirty-four 
miles  eastwardly.  The  road  to  it  lies  through  Jackson 
and  Clinton,  two  pretty  villages;  the  former  is  the  seat  of 
a  college  and  female  seminary;  the  latter  is  the  seat  of 
justice  for  East  Feliciana  parish. 

I  arrived  too  late  for  the  Wednesday  stage,  and  rather 
than  wait  until  Friday  noon  for  another,  I  determined 
to  try  the  journey  to  Richland  Hill  on  foot.  So  I  sat  off, 
with  my  bag  on  my  shoulder,  walking  at  my  ease,  admir- 
ing the  beautiful  forest,  which  presented  many  trees  and 
shrubs  wholly  new  to  me.  The  magnolia,  holly,  wild 
peach,  willow-oak,  (all  ever-greens;)  the  China  tree,  cu- 
cumber tree,  and  occasionally  a  live  oak,  a  hawthorn,  and 
honey  suckle;  besides  an  agreeable  intermixture  of  pine, 
beach,  oak,  dog-wood,  etc.     It  is  a  charming  forest. 

I  walked  seven  miles  the  first  evening,  and  obtained 
quarters  at  a  private  house,  there  being  no  taverns  on  the 
road.  The  next  morning,  I  trudged  six  miles  more,  which 
brought  me  to  Jackson;  at  which  place  I  hired  a  horse  to 
ride  to  Clinton,  where  I  arrived  within  an  hour  of  sun- 
down, I  called  first  on  Mr.  Guay,  and  found  an  advertise- 
ment on  his  door  of  a  meeting  for  me  on  Sunday.  Late 
as  it  was,  I  preached  that  evening  to  a  large  audience. 
The  Methodist  church  was  obtained  for  Saturday  night 
and  Sunday  forenoon;  and  on  Sunday  night  I  preached 
again  in  the  Court-house.  All  these  meetings  were  ex- 
tremely well  attended,  more  especially  on  Sunday  fore- 
noon, when  they  came  in  from  considerable  distances  in 
the  country. 

April  15.     On  Monday,  I  borrowed  a  horse  of  my  friend 


.254         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

Mr.  Guay,  and  rode  to  Richland  Hill,  where  I  found  a  cor- 
dial welcome  from  Mr.  Black,  Post-master.  I  preached 
night  after  night  in  various  private  houses  in  that  neigh- 
borhood. On  Friday,  1  went,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Black, 
to  see  an  old  Universalist,  named  Doughty,  who  lives  on 
the  Amite  river.  In  his  neighborhood,  I  preached  in  the 
woods  adjoining  a  school-house,  on  Saturday  at  three 
o'clock;  and  by  request  of  persons  who  had  contributed 
towards  its  erection,  I  appointed  to  preach  next  forenoon 
in  a  Baptist  church,  named  Hepsiby. 

Arrived  there  at  the  appointed  hour.  I  found  the  Bap- 
tist preacher  present,  organizing  a  Sunday-school;  who 
utterly  and  indignantly  refused  me  the  use  of  his  pulpit. 
Happily,  there  was  a  stand  in  the  forest  near  the  church, 
with  seats  arranged  about  it,  of  the  use  of  which  he  could 
not  deprive  me.  This  man's  conduct  towards  me  was  most 
ungentlemanly.  I  arose — apologizing  for  the  unavoida- 
able  intrusion  upon  his  engagements — to  announce  my 
intention  of  preaching  in  the  forest,  and  to  explain  my 
reasons  for  having  appointed  to  preach  in  his  church, 
stating  that  I  had  been  informed  that  it  was  3.  free  church, 
etc.,  etc. 

One  minute  would  have  sufficed  for  all  I  meant  to  say; 
but  his  reverence  could  not  repress  the  sectarian  bitter- 
ness in  his  bosom  towards  me,  even  for  that  short  term; 
he  must  needs  jump  up  and  abuse  me;  applying  to  me  the 
charitable  appellations  of  infidel,  deist,  atheist,  riotous 
person,  disturber  of  the  public  peace,  etc.;  and  when  I 
mildly  attempted  my  defence  from  these  charges,  he  called 
out  for  a  magistrate  to  take  me  into  custody  1  He  even  re- 
fused to  take  my  hand,  when  I  proffered  it  at  parting,  as  a 
token  that  I  wished  to  maintain  towards  him  none  other 
than  amicable  relations. 

It  is  by  such  men,  alasl  that  the  cause  of  Christ  is 
brought  into  reproach,  more  than  by  all  the  attacks  there- 
upon by  unbelivers.  I  had  the  satisfaction,  nevertheless, 
of  addressing  a  large  and  very  attentive  audience,  from 
the  stand,  many  of  whom  were  Baptist  members.  And  I 
have  since  learned,  that  in  the  opinion  of  several  of  them, 
not  only  was  their  preacher's  conduct  highly  disapproved, 
but  also,  that  there  was  more  truth  than  poetry  in  the  ser- 
mon they  had  heard  from  the  stranger.  At  four  o'clock 
the  same  evening,  I  preached  in  another  neighborhood,  ten 
miles  distant. 


DF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  255 

On  Monday,  I  went  to  Jackson,  whither  I  had  written, 
appointing  a  meeting  for  that  evening.  On  my  arrival,  1 
found  that  no  place  had  been  provided,  nor  could  1  procure 
any.  The  College  chapel,  which  is  usually  opened  to 
ministers  of  all  denominations,  was  denied  me  by  the  pre- 
sident, to  whom  I  applied  in  person. 

Professor  Wooldridge,  of  the  College  at  Jackson,  was, 
until  lately,  a  very  popular  minister  of  the  Methodist 
church;  but  his  opinions  have  undergone  a  change,  and 
he  is  now  a  Unitarian.  This  change,  1  am  happy  to  say, 
has  not  diminished  his  popularity.  He  visited  me  at  the 
hotel,  and  we  spent  an  hour  or  two  in  discoursing  on  theo- 
logical subjects. 

Resolved  not  to  leave  Jackson  without  accomplishing 
the  object  of  my  visit,  i  had  arrangements  made  for  a 
meeting  in  the  spacious  hall  of  the  hotel.  It  was  well  at- 
tended, but  not  by  the  ladies — possibly  from  the  circum- 
stance of  its  being  at  a  tavern — none  of  these  appearing 
but  the  wives  of  President  Shannon  and  Professor  Wool- 
dridge, who  came  with  their  husbands.  Jackson  is  a  very 
handsome  village,  and  has  the  reputation  of  containing  an 
intelligent  and  refined  society.  But  in  no  part  of  this  re- 
gion, have  I  found  so  many  and  cordial  friends  as  in  Clin- 
ton, where  nearly  the  whole  community  seemed  to  hear 
me  with  favorable  prepossessions;  and  when  I  was  about  to 
leave  the  place,  a  warm  and  too  flattering  testimonial  of 
their  sentiments  toward  me,  was  put  into  my  hand,  bear- 
ing the  signatures  of  all  the  principal  ciiizens  of  the  vil- 
lage. 

April  20.  On  Sunday,  and  the  preceding  afternoon,  I 
preached  in  a  brick  church  at  Mount  Pleasant,  belonging 
to  the  Christian  Baptists,  or  Reformers.  The  congrega- 
tion was  exceedingly  large,  many  having  come  from  long 
distances;  a  young  lady,  for  instance,  of  uncommon  intel- 
ligence and  personal  attractions,  came  on  horseback,  at- 
tended by  her  brothers,  from  a  distance  of  twenty  miles. 

On  Monday  afternoon,  at  three  o'clock,  I  preached  my 
closing  sermon  at  Clinton.  The  audience  was  large,  not- 
withstanding the  business  of  the  season.  Monday  being 
the  busiest  day  in  the  week  in  these  parts,  and,  indeed, 
among  farmers  every  where,  for  aught  that  I  know.  To- 
morrow I  take  stage  for  Bayou  Sara,  whence  I  return  to 
New  Orleans. 

I  have  been  favored  during  the  whole  of  my  journey, 


25S         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

with  most  delightful  weather.  I  have  neither  needed  my 
cloak,  nor  an  umbrella,  in  the  whole  time.  It  has  in  this 
as  well  as  several  other  respects,  been  quite  in  contrast 
with  my  first  journey  to  the  South.  It  has,  indeed,  been 
attended  with  no  particular  hardships;  on  the  contrary, 
I  have  enjoyed  good  weather,  found  numerous  most  agree- 
able friends,  had  almost  uniformly  large  and  attentive 
meetings,  and  the  land  travel  I  have  performed  has  been 
In  a  country  which,  for  beauty  and  climate,  pleases  me 
much. 

Our  preachers  have  directed  but  little  attention  to  the 
southwest.  This  part  of  Louisiana  has  never  before  been 
visited  by  a  Universalist  minister.  1  doubt,  indeed,  if  a 
single  sermon  of  the  kind  had  ever  been  delivered  in  the 
State,  out  of  the  city,  down  to  the  time  of  my  arrival 
thither. 

We  can  little  foresee  how  our  measures^  in  any  given 
case,  are  to  eventuate.     In  the  whole  course  of  my  minis- 
try, I  never  took  a  step  so  little  in  accordance  with  my 
particular  inclinations,  and  so  solely  induced  by  a  sense 
of  duty,  as  was   that  of  my   visit  to  Louisiana;  yet   the 
event  proved,  that  I  never  before  had  taken  one,  which 
was  at  once,  so  pleasant  and  so  profitable.     Do  your  duty, 
and  leave  the  result  to  God,  is  a  maxim  of  which  I  never 
before  so  strikingly  experienced  the  truth.     I  had  got  no- 
farther  with  my  book  than  to  the  sixth  number;  means 
for  proceeding  with  it  had  utterly  failed;  and  this  was 
the  more  embarrassing  from  the  fact,  that  many  had  paid 
me  for  the  whole  set   of  numbers  in  advance:   there  was 
no  danger  that  these  would  lose  their  money,  if  the  work 
should  fall  through,  of  which  I    must  own,  the  prospect 
was   very  imminent;  but  the  sad  alternative  must  be,  that 
I  must,  in  order  to  reimburse  them,  dispose  of  every  dol- 
lar's worth  of  property  I  had  in  the  world;  sacrifice  all 
that  the  work  had  already  cost  me,   and  experience  the 
disgrace  of  a  failure  into  the  bargain.     Thank  Heaven? 
that   to   neither   of   these  alternatives   was  I  eventually 
driven;  my  journey  to  Louisiana,  by  ihe  liberal  pecuniary 
aid  which  it  yielded  me,  prevented  me  being  dashed  upon 
Scilla  on  the  one  hand,  and  being  engulfed  in  Charbydis 
on  the  other. 

During  the  Summer  and  Autumn  following,  I  traveled 
over  a  good  portion  of  Ohio,  preaching  as  I  went,  and 
writing  on  the  "  Pro  and  Con,"  as  I  found  opportunity.     I 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  257 

also  re- visited  Pittsburg,  and  held  meetings  in  several 
places  adjacent  to  that  dingy  metropolis.  A  more  bigoted 
community  than  dwells  thereabout  I  judge  it  scarcely  pos- 
sible to  find;  and  ignorant  and  priest-ridden,  also,  in  a  pro- 
portionate degree.  I  went  out,  one  afternoon,  to  Sharps- 
burg,  six  miles,  to  deliver  a  sermon  in  a  school-house, 
in  the  eastern  skirt  of  that  village.  I  was  sitting,  in  com- 
pany with  an  Esquire  Lewis,  who  lived  there,  on  the 
grassy  slope  of  a  hilloch,  on  which  the  school-house  stood, 
when  a  person  came  riding  toward  us  on  a  brisk  trot,  who, 
on  arriving  at  the  spot  where  we  sat,  stopped  his  horse, 
and  authoritatively  demanded  of  Esquire  Lewis,  how  the 
school-house  door  came  to  be  open  at  that  hour  in  the 
evening,  Esquire  Lewis  answered  in  a  markedly  deferen- 
tial tone,  that  it  was  opened  by  the  authority  of  the  town- 
ship trustees,  for  the  purpose  of  a  religious  meeting.  "  A 
religious  meeting!"  exclaimed  the  other,  in  a  tone  which 
woidd  have  been  contemptuous  but  that  his  anger  overmas- 
tered that  feeling;  ^' A  religious  meetingl  Well,  sir,  tell 
the  trustees  for  we,  that  this  house  was  not  intended  as 
a  place  where  strolling  infidels  should  vent  their  blasphe- 
mous attacks  upon  the  christian  religion — tell  them  this 
from  ME,  sir!"  "And,  pray,  who  are  you,"  demanded  I, 
as  with  cool  unconcern  1  sat  looking  up  in  his  face:  "by 
what  name,  or  ^i^Ze,  shall  we  call  you,  sir,  to  the  trustees?" 

"  Tell  them  for  i?ie,  sir,"  repeated  he,  almost  suffocating 
with  rage,  "  it  is  ME,  sir,  and  that's  enough." 

"  Why,  yes,"  retorted  I,  in  the  same  careless  tone  as 
before,  "  I  see  it  is  you;  but  whether  you  are  the  Gover- 
nor of  the  Commonwealth,  or  merely  the  Governor's  man, 
I  really  am  unable  to  determine." 

He  would — I  know  not  what — perhaps  have  cursed  me,  so 
uncontrolable  was  his  passion;  but  he  had  really  got  be- 
yond the  speaking  point;  so,  turning  his  horse,  he  galloped 
fiercely  ofl',  to  vent  his  ire  as  he  could  in  that  way.  Mean- 
while, wJio  my  gentleman  was,  or  what,  was  to  me  a  matter 
of  marvel.  I  supposed  him,  however,  some  high  civil  dig- 
nitary, or  the  possessor  of  extensive  property  in  the  parts, 
who  felt  himself  entitled  to  exercise  aristocratic  airs  on 
that  account.  Judge  of  my  surprise,  when,  as  he  was  in 
the  act  of  turning  his  horse,  the  worthy  magistrate  afore- 
named, who  till  then  had  borne  himself  towards  him  like 
a  whipped  puppy,  found  courage  to  act  as  master  of  cere- 
monies between  us,  and  introduced  him  to  me  as  the  Pres- 


258         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

byterian  minister  of  Sharpsburg  !  Thus  meekly  and 
humbly,  do  certain  members  of  the  priesthood  bear  them- 
selves in  that  smoky  region. 

But  there  is  a  worse  tyranny  than  even  the  priestly, 
although  too  often  it  is  but  another  form  thereof,  of  which 
I  experienced  the  existence  in  that  same  region.  By  re- 
quest of  a  gentleman  who  heard  me  at  Pittsburg,  I  went  to 
McKeesport,  sixteen  miles  up  the  Monongahela  river.  He 
had  particularly  requested  me  to  be  there  by  a  given  day, 
because  his  wife,  who  was  violently  opposed  to  my  doc- 
trine, would  then  be  absent  on  a  visit  to  her  friends,  and 
so  her  feelings  would  be  spared.  Well,  I  liked  that  prin- 
ciple, and  it  at  once  raised  him  in  my  esteem,  and  increas- 
ed my  desire  to  accommodate  him.  However,  our  precau- 
tion did  not  avail  us,  for  towards  the  second  evening  of 
my  visit  she  returned;  sooner,  by  a  day  or  two,  than  she 
had  been  looked  for.  I  first  became  aware  of  the  fact  by 
overhearing  some  energetic  whispering  from  an  adjoining 
room  in  a  female  voice,  and  certain  hurried  footsteps  indi- 
cated a  retreat  in  that  direction  whenever  I  arose  from  my 
writing,  to  pace  the  floor.  However,  I  saw  nothing  of  the 
lady;  she  was  not  in  her  place  at  supper,  and  I  had  nearly 
forgotten  her  presence,  until  about  ten  at  night,  as  I  was 
tion,  which  indicated  that  an  altercation  had  been  for  some 
going  to  bed,  1  when  was  startled  by  a  sudden  angry  exclama- 
time  before  going  on,  though  so  softly  that  1  had  not  heard 
it — "  I  wo7it,  1  swear  to  God  1  wont  stay  under  the  same 
roof  with  a  Universalist  preacher  1" 

Then  followed  a  mild  remonstrance  on  the  husband's 
part. 

"  Oh  !  Anny,  listen  to  me,  Anny.  Did  I  ever  act  so  to- 
wards one  of  your  ministers?  Don't  I  often  invite  them 
here  expressly  on  your  account?  Don't  I  allow  you  to 
pay  them  whatever  you  think  proper?  Oh  I  I  beg  of  you, 
don't  wound  the  feelings  of  our  guest,  for  he  is  a  man  of 
unexceptionable  character,"  etc. 

This  most  reasonable  remonstrance  was  of  no  avail,  how- 
ever, and  it  holds  true,  alas,  that  "  Bigotry  has  no  head,  and 
cannot  think;  no  heart,  and  cannot  feel."  Till  after  mid- 
night the  altercation  continued ;  mildly  on  his  part,  furiously 
on  hers;  it  ended  at  length  with  a  slam  of  the  door  which 
made  the  house  tremble,  and  an  imprecation  similar  to  the 
one  above  recorded  :  and  this  christian  wife  left  the  home 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  269 

of  her  husband,  outraged  every  principle  of  common  de- 
corum, set  at  nought  every  plea  of  justice  and  affection, 
and  trampled  on  her  nuptial  vows,  rather  than  to  commit 
the  sin  of  tarrying  for  a  night  under  the  same  roof  with  a 
Universalist  preacher  ! 

From  Pittsburg  I  proceeded  by  stage  to  Ravenna,  where 
I  held  several  meetings.  Thence  I  was  conveyed,  by 
Hiram  Torry,  who  had  then  just  commenced  the  ministry, 
to  Brimfield  and  Akron.  The  latter  was  then  an  insignifi- 
cant village;  it  now  is  a  county  seat,  containing  some 
three  thousand  inhabitants,  and  bids  fair  to  be  the  largest 
seat  of  manufactures  in  the  State.  The  Ohio  canal  to 
Cleaveland  on  Lake  Erie,  and  the  Cross-cut  canal  to  Bea- 
ver, Pennsylvania,  unite  at  Akron :  these  both  furnish 
manufacturing  power;  more  especially  the  former,  which 
has  no  less  than  sixteen  locks  at  that  point,  eight  falling 
each  way.  Besides  all  which,  a  stupendous  power  has 
been  recently  gained  there  by  diverting  the  waters  of  the 
Cuyahoga  river  from  a  point  several  miles  above,  and  se- 
curing thereby  a  succession  of  falls,  amounting  in  the 
aggregate  to  something  over  two  hundred  feet.  Akron, 
moreover,  is  a  market  for  the  wheat  and  other  products  of 
a  large  scope  of  very  fertile  territory.  I  next  was  taken 
to  Massillon,  twenty  miles  south  of  Akron,  on  the  Ohio 
canal,  which  is  the  wheat  depot  for  a  large  region  of 
country,  exceedingly  productive  of  that  staple;  it  is,  con- 
sequently, a  brisk  and  thriving  town,  and  has  the  advan- 
tage over  Akron,  of  being  somewhat  less  bleak  in  situa- 
tion, and  less  exposed  to  the  Lake  winds.  Thence  I  was 
taken  to  Wadsworth  Corners,  where,  and  at  Sharon,  I 
spent  a  ^e\w  days  and  was  thence  conveyed  westerly,  by  J. 
Pardee,  to  Westfield.  From  thence  again  Esquire  Mallory 
forwarded  me  still  westerly,  to  Huntington,  where  S.  P. 
Sage  then  resided  and  preached.  For  full  two  weeks  Mr. 
Sage  entertained  and  conveyed  me  from  place  to  place, 
where  we  held  meetings  together,  and  traversed  a  consid- 
erable portion  of  the  counties  of  Lorain  and  Huron.  We 
parted  at  Peru,  in  the  latter  county,  where  our  friends 
owned  a  meeting-house,  and  existed  in  considerable  num- 
ber. From  thence  I  was  conveyed  to  Tiffin,  in  Seneca 
county,  where,  during  a  tarry  of  several  days,  I  was  the 
guest  of  T.  Bradley,  who  kept  the  principal  hotel  in  the 
place. 

Thus  far,  since  leaving  Pittsburg,  my  journey  had  been 


260         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

mostly  over  what  is  termed  the  Western  Reserve;  a  re- 
gion comprising  some  ten  counties,  which  form  the  north- 
eastern corner  of  Ohio.  It  is  populous  with  New  Eng- 
landers  and  their  descendants,  whose  industry  and  refined 
taste  have  well  improved  that  naturally  fertile  and  beauti- 
ful region.  We  then  had  but  three  meeting-houses  in  all 
that  section  of  the  State,  viz  :  at  Brimfield,  Sharon,  and 
Peru.  We  now  have,  besides  them,  one  at  Akron,  at 
Ravenna,  at  Medina,  at  Laport,  at  Olmstead,  at  Cleveland, 
at  Parkman,  at  Elyria.  It  is  all  hopeful  ground  to  any 
good  cause,  for  its  mhabitants  are  an  active,  prying, 
and  progressive  race,  and  are  the  very  reverse  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  middle  and  southern  States,  in  those 
respects. 

From  TifRn  I  passed  by  stage  through  a  country  of  ex- 
tensive natural  meadows,  and  mostly  of  level  surface,  to 
Marion,  seat  of  justice  for  the  county  of  that  name,  and 
distant  from  Tiffin  about  sixty  miles.  I  tarried  there  a 
few  days  with  Doctor  Holloway,  and  held  several  meetings 
in  the  town  and  vicinity.  Thence  I  crossed  the  country 
easterly  to  Mt.  Vernon,  thirty-five  miles,  in  a  wagon  that 
was  carrying  wheat  all  that  distance  to  be  ground  for 
family  use.  The  season  was  an  unusually  dry  one,  and  the 
level  country,  west  of  Knox  county,  furnishes  no  streams 
that  are  durable  in  a  dry  season.  After  a  Sabbath  at  Mt. 
Vernon,  I  continued  on  south-easterly  to  Columbus,  and 
thence  to  Worthington,  to  be  present  at  the  meeting  of  the 
Central  Association.  Worthington  is  a  superbly  beautiful 
and  fertile  township  of  land,  watered  by  a  large  creek 
which  unites  at  Columbus  with  the  Scioto  river.  After  the 
meeting  there,  I  was  conveyed  to  Springfield,  nearly  fifty 
miles,  by  E.  M.  Pingree,  who  had  just  received  a  certifi- 
cate of  fellowship  as  a  minister.  An  old  gentleman,  Mr. 
Winn,  who  had  long  been  an  ardent  advocate  of  our  faith, 
deceased  at  Springheld  during  the  short  term  of  my  stay 
there.  I  was  with  him,  together  with  George  Messinger, 
then  our  resident  clergyman  in  that  town,  on  the  evening 
before  his  exit  from  time.  A  Methodist  minister  was  also 
present,  to  whom  the  old  gentleman  said, 

"Brother,  we  have  been  intimate  for  many  years,  and  I  am 
now  about  to  die  in  the  faith  of  which  we  have  spoken 
together  oftentimes.  Well,  my  friend,  believe  me,  for  a 
thousand  worlds  I  would  not  now  be  destitute  of  that  con- 
soling belief,  and  go  to  my  God  with  the  horrid  persua- 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  261 

sion,  that  he  will  damn,  to  never  ending  wo,  millions  on 
millions  of  the  creatures  formed  by  his  own  hand.  No, 
my  friend,  it  affords  me  unspeakable  joy  to  know,  that 
you  and  I,  and  all  mankind,  will  meet  in  heaven,  and  dwell 
there  forever." 

To  die  happily  in  any  particular  faith,  proves  nothing 
as  to  that  faith's  truth;  nevertheless,  it  is  something  to 
have  a  faith,  in  consistency  with  which  one  can  die 
happily. 

The  journey  above  recorded  occupied  me  somewhat 
over  three  months,  and  covered  the  length  of  the  State, 
from  north  to  south,  nearly  its  entire  breadth  from  east 
to  west,  and  much  distance  in  diverging  and  zigzag  di- 
rections into  the  bargain. 

After  my  return,  I  occupied  myself  chiefly  in  traveling 
and  preaching  over  the  south-western  portion  of  the  State. 
At  the  invitation  of  Israel  Woodruff,  I  visited  his  neigh- 
borhood, on  Csesar's  creek,  near  Waynesville,  and  preach- 
ed several  sermons  at  his  house  to  large  congregations. 
I  also  preached  much  about  John  MitchelPs,  Martinsville; 
Leesburg,  Hillsboro',  Sinking  Spring,  Chillicothe,  Rich- 
mondale,  etc.  I  used  to  be  much  at  my  friend,  Gen. 
Baldwin's,  who  himself  was  more  than  a  preacher,  in  his 
good  influence  for  the  truth  in  his  neighborhood. 

During  the  Fall  of  that  }  ear,  if  I  mistake  not,  I  preached 
in  Delhi  and  Green  townships.  In  the  former,  my  place 
of  meeting  was  the  house  of  Jonathan  Bassett;  in  the 
latter,  at  that  of  Israel  Applegate.  This  was  the  first  time 
our  doctrine  was  ever  proclaimed,  in  those  parts.  At  the 
former,  which  joins  Cincinnati  on  the  west,  there  is  now 
a  society  composed  of  most  excellent  persons,  who  recent- 
ly built  themselves  a  neat  house  of  worship.  In  the  latter, 
also,  are  several  worthy  professors  of  our  faith,  who  will, 
it  is  hoped,  soon  follow  the  example  of  their  Delhi  neigh- 
bors in  the  latter  respect.  The  region  comprising  both 
these  townships  is  one  of  picturesque  hills  and  dales, 
which  on  account  of  their  proximity  to  Cincinnati,  teem 
with  inhabitants  and  beautiful  dwellings. 

Early  in  the  following  wintei-,  I  performed  a  third  jour- 
ney to  the  South,  of  which  the  following  is  an  account 
written  for  one  of  our  denonnnational  journals  at  the 
time. 


262         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 


CHAPTER    XII. 

Visits  Vicksburg,  and  other  parts  of  Mississippi — Travels  exten- 
sively in  Louisiana — Re-visits  New  Orleans — Also,  Mobile,  and 
various  places  in  Alabama. 

Dec.  1,  1838.  Embarked  at  Cincinnati  in  the  steam- 
boat Rochester,  for  Natchez,  as  a  deck  passenger.  Let 
the  reader  imagine  an  apartment  twelve  feet  by  twenty- 
five,  with  a  huge  stove  in  the  midst,  lumbered  up  with 
trunks,  chests,  articles  for  bedding,  coils  of  rope,  casks, 
cooking  utensils,  etc.,  and  nearly  every  foot  of  the  remain- 
ing space  occupied  by  some  half  a  hundred  of  passengers. 
Then  let  him  imagine  the  fetor  of  an  atmosphere  tainted 
by  so  many  breaths;  by  the  continual  frying  of  various 
articles  of  food;  by  the  filth,  of  divers  kinds,  necessarily 
generated  by  the  huddling  together  of  so  many  persons 
and  things  in  so  small  a  compass;  but  cheifly  by  the  vile 
tobacco  juice  continually  spattering  from  nearly  every 
mouth.  Then  the  various  noises :  the  working  of  the 
engine,  the  hissing  of  the  steam,  the  clucking  of  some 
hundred  dozens  of  fowls;  the  grunting  and  squeaking  of 
a  score  or  two  of  hogs;  and,  worse  than  all,  the  oaths 
and  obscene  ribaldries  of  the  rough  crew  and  passengers. 
When  the  reader  has  fancied  to  himself  these  and  other 
unnameable  annoyances,  he  will  have  a  tolerably  just 
idea  of  a  deck  passage  on  the  western  waters. 

But  why  take  a  passage  on  the  deck,  then,  rather 
than  in  I'le  cabin?  For  the  reason,  most  courteous  reader, 
that  they  who  have  no  shoes  go  barefooted.  A  cabin 
passage,  as  times  then  were,  for  the  waters  were  low 
almost  beyond  parallel,  would  have  cost  me  fifty  dollars, 
and  that  is  an  amount  that  a  poor  preacher  can  seldom 
command.  The  South  had  been  almost  wholly  unvisited 
by  our  preachers,  because,  among  other  reasons,  not  one 
in  fifty  of  them  could  afford  the  expense.  I  preferred 
submitting  to  the  hardships  of  a  deck  passage,  rather  than 
to  forego  my  visits  to  that  neglected  region  altogether.  I 
hope  that  the  way  will  be  so  prepared,  ere  long,  that  our 
ministers  shall  be  able  to  go  thither  with  less  discomfort 
than  I  have  done. 

Our  boat  made  a  stop  of  an  hour  at  Paducha,  at  the 


OF  1  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  263 

mouth  of  the  Tennessee  river.  There  we  found  the 
General  Brown,  which,  a  day  or  two  previous,  had  burst 
her  boilers,  and  scalded  thirty-two  persons  mortally. 
Gracious  God  !  what  a  scene  her  forward  cabin  presented! 
Its  ceiling  was  besmeared  with  blood  and  gore,  and  there 
were  yet  two  of  the  victims  on  board,  in  the  last  stage 
of  mortal  suffering.  • 

Dec.  9.  Reached  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  after  a  pas- 
sage of  eight  days,  more  than  double  the  time  usually 
so  occupied,  during  which  we  ran  aground  ten  times,  and 
were  only  saved  from  sticking  fast  there  during  the  winter 
— as  was  actually  the  case  with  some  ten  or  a  dozen  other 
boats — by  the  fact  that  ours  was  a  vessel  of  light  draught, 
and  but  partially  loaded. 

While  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  we  learned  that  an 
explosion  had  recently  occurred  in  the  Augusta,  by  which 
twenty-three  persons  were  destroyed.  And  scarcely  had 
we  recovered  from  the  shock  occasioned  by  this  intelli- 
gence, ere  we  learned  that  a  similar  catastrophe  had 
occurred  on  board  the  Philips!  Really,  one  can  repose 
on  board  of  one  of  these  floating  volcanos  with  about  as 
comfortable  a  sense  of  security,  as  if  he  were  to  take 
lodgings  in  the  crater  of  Vesuvius  or  of  Cotopaxi. 

Our  boat  went  no  farther  than  the  mouth  of  the  river; 
she  there  transferred  her  freight  and  passengers  to  the 
Diana,  which  was  regarded  as  the  fleetest  boat  on  the 
western  waters;  but  the  more  to  be  dreaded  for  that  very 
reason.  It  is  from  the  pride  of  showing  oflf  the  speed  of 
these  crack  boats,  that  most  of  the  blow-ups  proceed. 
The  fleet  Moselle,  and  the  hundred  and  eighty  souls  who 
miserably  perished  in  her,  owed  their  dreadful  fate  to 
that  cause.  Whilst  the  transhipment  was  going  on,  I 
rambled  over  the  point  of  land — Bird's  Point — which  is 
formed  by  the  confluence  of  these  mighty  rivers.  What 
a  world  of  waters  meet  within  a  small  compass  here! 
The  Wabash,  Green,  Cumberland,  Tennessee,  Ohio,  Mis- 
souri, Illinois,  and  Mississippi.  The  consequence  is,  that 
the  atmosphere  of  this  region  is  charged  with  much 
humidity,  so  that  when  the  temperature  is  scarcely  down 
to  the  freezing  point,  it  is  yet  most  annoyingly  cold  and 
searching  to  the  system  not  inured  to  it. 

Dec.  13.  Reached  Vicksburg,  where  I  disembarked, 
sufficiently  weary  of  my  tediously  long  voyage  of  thir- 
teen days;   disgusted  by  the  sights,  sounds,  and    smells. 


264        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

therewith  connected;  debilitated  by  the  irregular  diet, 
irregular  rest,  and  an  atmosphere  so  carbonated  as  to 
be  almost  unfitted  for  respiration.  I  had  been  requested, 
by  George  Messinger  and  wife,  to  call  on  a  brother  of 
theirs,  who  has  a  plantation  twenty  miles  back  of  this 
city,  and  who,  being  much  of  his  time  here  on  business, 
keeps  a  suit  of  rooms  for  his  own  convenience.  So  here 
I  am,  sharing  his  bachelor  bed  and  board,  and  the  services 
of  his  negro,  who  officiates  as  his  cook  and  jack-of-all- 
work,  during  his  sojourns  in  the  city.  To-morrow  I  am 
to  ride  to  his  plantation,  and  thence  to  Clinton,  this  State, 
and  Jackson,  the  capital;  my  object  being  to  explore  the 
country  with  reference  to  the  prospect  it  affords  in  our 
way. 

By  the  kindness  of  Mr.  B.,  in  lending  me  a  horse,  I  was 
saved  the  stage  charges,  which  are  here  at  the  moderate 
rate  of  twenty  cents  per  mile,  twenty  dollars  for  a  hun- 
dred miles',  besides  three  dollars  per  diem  at  the  taverns, 
for  a  kind  of  fare,  at  the  thought  of  which,  even  a  Gra- 
hamite  would  grow  lean. 

Dec.  14.  Mounted  on  a  shaggy  runt  of  a  poney,  about 
as  big  as  a  New  Foundland  dog.  With  my  carpet  travel- 
ing bag  tied  on  before,  and  my  cloak  scarcely  allowing 
more  of  the  little  animal  to  be  seen  than  his  nose  and  tail, 
I  made  a  very  grotesque  figure,  1  fancy.  Happily  the 
Vicksburgers  are  accustomed  to  curiosities,  so  I  escaped 
particular  notice.  Not  even  in  New  Orleans,  have  I  seen 
more  things  to  look  at  within  an  equal  space.  Planters 
from  the  country,  encased  in  blanket  coats;  cavalcades  of 
ladies  riding  in  for  shopping  purposes — vehicles  seem  to 
be  scarcely  ever  used  here;  negroes  driving  four  yoke 
of  oxen,  or  as  many  mules,  before  a  wagon  laden  with 
cotton-bales;  groups  of  Indians,  some  mounted,  some  on 
foot,  their  poor  squaws  burthened  with  cumbrous  packs, 
reminding  one  of  the  picture  of  Christian  in  Pilgrim's  Pro- 
gress,* etc. 

I  found  the  interior  country  to  be  but  indifferent;  the 
soil  poor  and  broken — not  undulating,  but  broken  into 
sharp  ridges,  and  abrupt  hills  and  hollows;  the  roads 
enlivened  by  but  few  houses,  and  they  something  short  of 

*Vicksburg  is  another  sort  of  place  at  the  present  daj;J  the 
railroad  that  goes  out  thence  to  Jackson,  has  produced  a  great 
and  injurious  alteration  in  its  business,  and  in  the  life  and  variety 
of  its  streets. 


OF    A   UMVERSALIST    PREACHER.  265^ 

palaces;  and  the  long  grey  moss  pendent  from  the  forest 
trees,  gives  a  sombre  air  to  the  landscape;  which, however, 
is  occasionally  relieved  by  the  green  tops  of  the  wild 
sugar-cane,  and  here  and  there  a  holly,  wild  peach,  or 
other  evergreen.  Planters  seldom  build  on  the  public 
road:  one  must  often  pass  a  mile  through  woods  and  fields, 
and  let  down  some  two  or  three  sets  of  bars,  to  get  at 
their  dwellings.  And  then,  my  dear  fellow,  as  you  value 
the  safety  of  the  son  of  your  mother,  look  out  for  the 
dogs,  of  which  there  are  usually  not  more  than  half  a 
score  to  a  plantation. 

Mr.  Bacon's  plantation  consists  of  sixteen  hundred  acres, 
most  pleasantly  situated  on  the  Big  Black  river,  which  is 
navigable  for  steamboats,  in  high  water,  to  the  distance 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles;  and  by  keel  boats  much 
farther  in  all  stages.  Mr.  B.'s  nephew,  who  is  acting  as 
his  overseer,  proves  to  be  a  sort  of  former  acquaintance 
of  mine;  at  least  heard  me  preach  at  South  Bainbridge. 
New  York,  eight  years  ago,  and  was  present  also  at  my 
ordination.  Thus  I  am  constantly  meeting  with  persons, 
go  where  I  will,  who  have  formerly  known  me  with  a  less 
or  greater  degree  of  intimacy;  and  I  know  not  where,  in 
the  United  States,  I  should  be  safe  if  a  price  was  put  upon 
my  head. 

Dec.  15.  E-ode  to  Clinton  to-day,  and  four  miles  fur- 
ther, to  the  plantation  of  a  Mr.  Morris :  he  is  a  native  of 
Gloucester  county,  Virginia,  where  he  has  a  tobacco 
plantation,  on  which  he  resides  during  the  Summer.  The 
loss  of  his  wife,  which  took  place  some  four  years  ago, 
still  operates  as  a  severe  blight  upon  his  happiness;  indeed 
he  laments  it  as  freshly  as  if  it  were  a  thing  of  yesterday. 
Greatly  do  I  reverence  such  grief.  O!  in  the  waste  of 
selfish  life  how  green  a  spot  is  such  constancy  of  affec- 
tion!  And  a  soul,  though  wholly  stained  with  sin  besides^ 
yet  exhibiting  this  evidence  of  its  aihnity  to  the  Godhead, 
is.  for  its  sake  alone,  well  worth  saving,  methinks. 

Few  persons  in  this  country  consider  themselves  fixed; 
hence  the  motives  to  making  solid  improvements,  estab- 
lishing a  good  reputation,  and  forming  those  kindly  rela- 
tions which  constitute  the  main  charm  of  social  life, 
operate  but  feeble  here.  This  accounts  for  the  general 
unembellishcd  condition  of  the  country,  and,  alasl  for  the 
too  general  looseness  of  its  manners  and  morals. 

Even  the  well-trained  and  catechised  New  Englander, 
18 


t66  EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

forsakes  the  steady  habits  of  his  native  land,  on  his  removal 
hither,  and  adopts  the  barbarian  garnishing  of  his  person 
with  pistols  and  bowie-knife.  As  if  the  arbitrament  of 
these  were  more  equitable,  or  more  satisfactory,  than  is 
that  of  reason  and  law!  Gracious  God!  are  the  restraints 
of  a  virtuous  education  thus  easily  broken  through?  Are 
the  tender  inculcations  of  parental  love  thus  lightly  cast 
aside  ? 

But  what  is  most  to  be  deplored  in  connection  with  these 
brutal  usages,  is  the  utter  indifference  with  which  they 
are  regarded  by  the  female  portion  of  the  community.  It 
was  told  me  yesterday  of  a  lady — of  course  she  was  a  ^ady, 
a  mere  woman  would  have  acted  differently — that  when 
her  husband  consulted  with  her  as  to  his  acceptance  of  a 
challenge  he  had  received,  her  advice  was,  "Accept  it, 
sir;  for  1  would  rather  be  the  widow  of  a  brave  man,  than 
the  wife  of  a  coward."  "  What  do  you  think  of  that  ?" 
triumphantly  asked  my  female  informant  of  this  case. 
•'Think  of  it?"  I  answered.  "  Why,  that  the  magnifi- 
cent lady  was  weary  of  her  present  husband,  and  dis- 
posed to  fall  in  with  any  scheme  for  obtaining  a  new  one." 

I  could  obtain  no  place  to  preach  in  at  Clinton,  save  the 
ball-room  of  one  of  the  hotels;  and  oh!  reader,  if  you 
know  anything  of  the  general  character  of  Southern  hotels, 
you  will  not  wonder  at  my  repugnance  to  preach  in  them, 
I  delivered  one  discourse  only,  to  a  good  audience,  consid- 
ering that  the  night  was  wet  and  dark,  and  the  streets  al- 
most impassably  miry.  Clinton  is  a  "smart  chance  of  a 
town,"  to  adopt  a  Southern  phrase;  but  as  a  rail-road 
passes  through  it  to  Jackson,  which  is  distant  but  ten  miles, 
it  is  going  into  decay.  I  did  not  lecture  in  Jackson,  as  I 
intended,  for  it  rained,  rained,  until  the  whole  country 
was  converted  into  a  puddle ;  and  I  had  borrowed  my  horse 
for  a  definite  time,  which  obliged  me  to  return  before  the 
state  of  the  weather  was  such  as  to  favor  my  intentions. 
The  country  about  Clinton  and  Jackson,  and,  indeed,  the 
whole  of  Hinds  county,  is  far  from  inviting  in  its  aspects, 
or  in  its  fertility;  nor  are  its  charms  much  increased  by 
improvement. 

Bee.  22.  I  am  at  Mr.  B.'s  plantation  again.  They  are 
very  wealthy,  worth  half  a  million  at  least,  but  childless; 
their  home  is  desolate.  Three  children  had  they,  all  cut 
off  at  interesting  ages.     I  have  just  been  on  a   solitary 


OF   A   TJNIVERSALIST    PREACHER,  267 

A^isit  to  their  graves.  What  a  lovely  spot!  A  high  point 
of  land,  commanding  a  view  of  the  entire  plantation;  an 
unbroken  vision  -of  river,  meadovi^,  and  cotton-fields,  for 
two  miles  in  extent,  and  «i  cypress  forest  terminating  the 
view.  A  large  arbor  of  wide  lattice-work,  is  erected  over 
#ie  graves,  under  which  is  ample  room  for  the  parents  to 
lie  down  to  their  long  sleep,  when  their  time  is  come. 
The  mother's  c«,re  is  visible  in  the  various  trees  and 
shrubs,  with  which  the  spot  is  overshadowed.  Oh!  that  it 
had  been  my  lot  to  experience  a  mother's  soothing  atten- 
tions! If  1  ever  did,  it  was  longer  ago  than  my  memory 
reaches;  neither  father,  mother,  brother,  nor  sister,  has  it 
been  my  happiness  to  know.  From  a  very  early  age,  I 
have  been  an  isolated  step-child  of  the  world.  It  will  not 
boot  to  say  how  the  old  dame  has  used  me. 

Dec.  25.  Still  .at  the  plantation.  Happy  times  for  the 
negroes,  now!  Ma*.  B.,  who  is  a  kind  master,  is  discharging 
his  debts  among  them.  He  owes  them,  he  tells  me,  more 
than  a  hundred  dollars.  This  is  for  work  performed  at 
different  times,  over  their  task.  And,  perhaps,  he  owes 
some  of  them  for  poultry,  eggs,  etc.;  for  masters  are  in 
the  habit  of  thus  dealing  with  their  slaves,  and  they  keep 
a  regular  debt  and  credit  account  with  them.  No  master, 
I  believe,  would  think  of  cheating  his  negroes  in  these 
transs-ctions ;  but,  to  my  knowledge,  they  will  try  to  cheat 
him.  The  former,  if  he  be  a  Southerner,  will  smile  at 
these  attempts,  for  he  knows  and  is  leniently  considerate 
of  the  poor  negroes  foible.  To  the  Northerner,  these  are 
less  known,  and  he  does  not  regard  them  with  equal  pa- 
tience, 

'•  Missus,"  said  one  of  Mrs.  B.'s  negresses  to  her  this 
•evening — it  is  Christmas  holiday  time,  be  it  noted — 
"  Missus,  Marsa  owes  me  a  frock."  Mrs.  B.  answered  that 
she  knew  nothing  about  it,  and  calling  Mr.  B,,  she  inquired 
of  him,  "  Do  you  owe  Phillis  a  frock?"  "  Not  that  I  know 
of;  what's  it  for,  Phillis?"  Phillis  scratched  her  head — 
•'I  donH  memmer  now,  Marsa;  but  Marsa  M." — the  over- 
S3er — "he  know  about  'em,"  The  overseer  was  called; 
"Do  you  know  anything  about  my  owing  Phillis  a  frock?" 
"Do  I?  No:  when  did  that  happen,  Phillis?"  Phillis 
again  fumbled  about  her  seat  of  memory;  "Oh!  I  mem- 
mer now;  it  wus  afore  Marsa  M.  done  com'd  yeer."  This 
was  four  years  ago!  The  court  smiled  incredulously,  and 
poor  Phillis  was  non-suited.     Such  is  a  specimen  of  the 


268         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

petty  impositions  to  which  the  whites  are  liable  from  their 
negroes, 

Dec.  26.  It  has  been  raining  again  for  several  days,  so' 
that  I  could  not  stir  out  of  doors;  but  never  mind,  I  shall 
be  compensated  by  the  negro  ball,  which  commences  this 
evening;  and,  moreover,  two  parties  have  obtained  Marsa's 
leave  to  marry.  I  overheard  one  of  the  males  of  the  par- 
ties saying  to  his  Mistress,  "  Marsa  guv  Tim  a  big  wedding 
when  he  wos  married;  tink  he  ought  to  do  as  much  for 
me;  I  wer  born  on  de  plantation."  "To  be  sure,"  re- 
plied his  Mistress,  "  you  shall  have  as  big  a  wedding  as 
Tim  had.'' 

Well,  a  shelter  of  cotton-bagging  is  stretched  across  the 
China  trees  before  the  door,  enclosing  a  semi-circular 
area.  Within  this  a  plank  floor  is  laid  for  the  dancing. 
Festoons  of  the  bay,  or  magnolia,  a  beautiful  evergreen, 
are  fastened  within  the  wall  of  bagging,  and  benches  are 
placed  around  the  semi-circular  edge  of  the  area,  for 
purposes  of  rest,  during  the  intervals  of  the  dance.  This 
hall  is  to  be  lighted  op  at  night,  and  the  negroes  are  privi- 
leged to  occupy  it  from  morning  until  twelve  at  nighty 
during  the  continuance  of  the  holidays.  Happy  times,  I 
ween,  for  Cuffy! 

It  is  night,  and  the  ball  is  in  full  operation.  1  wish  I 
could  picture  forth  the  whole  scene  in  language!  But  my 
powers  are  quite  inadequate.  Besides  the  candles,  it  is 
greatly  enlivened  by  the  light  of  a  large  fire  at  each  ex- 
tremity. There  are  two  fiddlers  present,  a  tamborin,  and 
banjou.  In  addition,  the  negroes  sing,  and  put  jula,  which 
consists  of  patting  their  knees  with  their  open  hand?,  and 
at  the  same  time  beating  time  with  their  feet.  Nothing 
can  be  more  comical  than  their  songs;  one  is  about  a  fisli 
harking  at  a  dog,  out  of  a  mill  pond  !  In  this  exercise,  they 
get  wrought  up  into  ecstacies,  precisely  as  it  is  usual  to 
see  them — ignorant  whites,  also — at  Methodist  meetings. 
But  oh!  the  bowing  and  scraping!  Here's  a  school  of  po- 
liteness for  you  !  Here  might  you  perfect  yourself  in 
manners  more  completely  than  by  the  study  of  Ches- 
terfield. 

The  marriages  were  performed  by  one  of  Mr.  B.'s  ne- 
gi'oes,  dubbed  magistrate  for  the  occasion;  and  if  you  could 
have  witnessed  the  ceremony  with  a  straight  face,  I  should 
suspect  that  nature  had  denied  you  the  organs  of  cachi- 
nation. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER,  269 

So  now,  reader,  I  will  describe  no  more;  but  will  leave 
you  to  imagine  the  scene,  as  best  you  can,  of  a  hundred 
and  fifty  negroes  dancing,  fiddling,  singing,  patting  juba, 
etc.,  under  a  fire  and  candle-lighted  grove,  of  beautiful 
China  trees,  and  within  a  wall  of  bagging-cloth,  festooned 
with  bay-leaves,  and  enclosing  them  like  the  sides  of  a 
tent.  My  dear  reader,  whether  you  live  in  town  or  coun- 
try, I  defy  you  to  describe  a  better  Christmas  entertain- 
ment. 

Dec.  29.  Returned  by  railroad  to  Vicksburg,  accompa- 
nied by  Mr.  B.  A  duel  was  fought,  over  against  the  city, 
this  morning,  on  the  Louisiana  side  of  the  river.  It  was 
fought  with  rifles,  at  but  thirty  paces  apart.  One  of  the 
parties  was  wounded  mortally  in  the  head.  The  other 
would,  in  all  probability,  have  been  killed,  but  his  ball  hit 
the  trigger  of  his  antagonist's  rifie,  and  prevented  its  dis- 
charge. The  survivor  has  challenged  his  opponent's 
second,  and  the  challenge  is  accepted.  Report  describes 
them  as  desperate  men  both,  and  to  both,  it  is  probable, 
the  pending  duel  will  prove  fatal.  These  affairs  take 
place  every  month  or  two,  in  plain  sight  of  all  Vicksburg. 
People  here  talk  of  going  over  to  get  a  near  view  of  them, 
with  the  sang  froid  with  which  they  would  speak  of  a 
cock-fight,  or  a  bear-bait!  For  my  part,  I  envy  not  the 
sensibilities  of  the  man,  who  would  not  avert  his  face  with 
disgust  and  moral  loathing,  from  either  of  these  specta- 
cles, so  disgraceful  to  humanity! 

Dec.  30.  Attended  ihe  Presbyterian  church  this  morn- 
ing, and  the  Methodist  in  the  evening.  Both  were  thinly 
attended;  scarcely  fifty  hearers  in  either,  out  of  a  popula- 
tion of  six  thousand!  Never,  positively,  never  was  1  in 
so  rowdy  a  place  in  my  life.  One  half  the  shops  are 
drinking  establishments,  and  every  bar  seems  thronged 
with  custom.  Let  me  wake  up  what  time  I  will  in  the 
night,  I  am  sure  to  hear  whooping  and  hallooing. 

A  most  singular  place  is  Vicksburg!  So  broken  into 
heaps  and  hollows  is  the  ground,  that  your  neck  is  in 
jeopardy,  if  you  walk  after  night-fall ;  and  the  houses  are 
built — Lord  help  me  ! — I  cannot  describe  how.  The 
ground  floor  is  often  on  a  level  with  the  roof  of  its  next 
neighbor!  And  after  a  rain,  the  streets  are  a  paradise 
for  ducks,  geese,  and  other  aquatics;  but  a  perfect  purga- 
tory for  horses  and  human  bipeds.  My  quarters  are  over 
against  the  theatre.      It  seems  to  be  thronged  to  overflow- 


270  EXPERIENCE,    LABORS,   AND    TRAVELS^ 

ing,  every  night.  You  can  scarcely  conceive  of  what  a 
medley  of  beings  the  winter  population  is  composed.  And 
there  is  no  place  of  equal  size,  that  will  at  all  compare 
with  it  in  point  of  business.  And  such  rents  as  are  paid 
for  stores !  Think  of  sixteen  hundred  dollars  a  year,  for 
the  first  story  of  an  oi*dinary  building  I* 

Jan.  3,  1839.  I  have  been  waiting  for  weather  which 
would  admit  of  my  getting  up  a  meeting  in  this  place.  It 
has  arrived,  at  length,  and  a  sermon  is  advertised  for  to- 
night, in  the  Court-house.  How  much  notice  it  will  at- 
tract, remains  to  be  seen.  Not  much,  1  apprehend;  al- 
though a  tiling  of  the  kind  has  never  before  taken  place 
here.  Yet,  such  is  the  prevalent  indifference  to  religion 
in  every  form,  that  1  do  not  expect  the  appointment  to  ex- 
cite much  curiosity. 

Jan.  2.  It  turned  out  as  I  expected;  the  number  of  my 
hearers,  last  night,  did  not  exceed  thirty,  and  all  males. 
Much  regret  was  expressed,  by  those  who  did  attend,  that 
the  turn-out  was  not  better.  And  a  promise  was  extracted 
from  me,  that  I  would  revisit  Vicksburg,  before  I  returned 
to  Cincinnati,  when  it  is  thought  I  will  succeed  better. 

I  leave  for  Natchez  to-day;  biit  I  shall  return  here  in 
two  or  three  months,  and  try  what  can  be  done;  for  Vicks- 
burg is  a  place  of  much  present.,  and  still  greater  pros- 
pective importance.  It  seems  to  be  generally  admitted,  that 
it  will  outgrow  Natchez,  on  account  of  its  superior  advan- 
tages for  trade,  and  the  larger  and  richer  scope  of  country 
for  which  it  is  the  commercial  depot.  Its  direct  communica- 
tion, by  railroad,  with  Jackson,  the  State  capital,  is  also 
thought  to  be  in  its  favor,  t  In  this  country,  railroads 
must  be  the  ultimate  dependence  for  over-land  transporta- 
tion. Turnpikes  are  out  of  the  question,  for  lack  of  stone; 
and  canals,  for  lack  of 'water.  The  natural  roads  are  im- 
passable to  vehicles  in  wet  and  rainy  seasons.  Railroads, 
therefore,  must  be  the  ultimate  reliance. 

There  really  is  various  dangers  attendant  on  solitary 
travel  in  this  region.  All  men  go  "  armed  to  the  teeth," 
and  it  is  to  be  expected,  that  amongst  the  many,  wrecked 
in  reputation  and  estate,  who  are  constantly  drifting  south- 

*  All  the  above  description,  rctnember,  as  to  the  business,  and 
much  of  it,  as  to  the  rowdyism,  is  inapplicable  now. 

t  Time,  the  great  realizer  or  defeaterof"  human  hopes,  has  shown 
the  fallacy  of  this,  in  regard  to  Vicksburg;  that  rail-road  has  nearly 
proved  its  ruin. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  271 

ward  on  the  tide  of  speculation,  some  are  desperate 
enough  to  resort  to  robbery  and  murder,  for  the  mending 
of  their  fortunes.  A  few  evenings  ago,  a  gentleman  of 
Vicksburg  was  delivered  of  a  gold  watch  and  three  hun- 
dred dollars,  by  four  fellows,  armed  with  double-barreled 
guns. 

Another  source  of  danger,  are  the  runaway  negroes, 
who  infest  the  woods  in  considerable  numbers.  Unable  to 
effect  their  escape  out  of  the  country,  they  skulk  into  the 
forests,  and  prowl  forth  in  the  night,  on  predatory  enter- 
prises. Over  the  slaves  who  remain  with  their  masters, 
too  close  a  vigilance  is  maintained,  to  admit  of  their  being 
dangerous  to  the  traveler;  yet,  even  they,  make  serious 
depredations  at  times,  on  hen-roosts,  and  pig-pens,  and  such 
other  quarters  as  may  yield  them  the  conveniences  or 
luxuries  of  life. 

Still  another  source  of  danger,  are  the  panthers,  which 
are  pretty  numerous,  and  very  fierce.  Sometime  since,  a 
female  slave  was  covertly  taking  food  to  her  runaway 
father,  who  was  skulking  on  the  skirts  of  the  plantation: 
when  she  had  got  within  a  few  paces  of  him,  a  panther 
sprang  upon  her  from  a  tree,  and  mangled  her  to  death 
before  his  eyes.  The  poor  negro  was  so  horrified  at  the 
spectacle,  that  he  ran  home  and  reported  it  to  his  master, 
who,  on  his  arrival  at  the  spot,  found  the  monster  still 
growling  over  his  prey,  and  quite  disposed  to  contest  his 
right  to  it,  too,  until  he  was  shot  through  the  head. 
But  an  instance  yet  more  illustrative  of  the  desperate 
fierceness  of  these  animals,  occurred  about  a  year  ago,  on 
the  Yazoo  river.  Whilst  a  party  of  boatmen  were  at  din- 
ner in  their  boat,  a  large  panther  bounded  in  amongst 
them,  and  despite  all  they  could  do,  though  fully  armed, 
he  actually  seized  one  of^  them,  and  escape  J  with  him  into 
the  adjoining  cane-brake. 

Now,  do  not  suspect,  gentle  reader,  that  these  are  mere 
Baron  Munchausen  legends,  told  thee  for  the  purpose  of 
bristling  up  thy  hairs,  or  of  gratifying  thy  marvelousness. 
Neither  would  the  narrator  have  thee  think  that  his  own 
mind  is  haunted  with  idle  terrors,  on  account  there  of,  dur- 
ing his  solitary  rides  through  these  south-western  forests: 
for  God  wot,  they  seldom  ever  occupy  his  thoughts  at  such 
times.  No,  no  :  he  somehow  has  the  presumption  to  sup 
pose  that  his  precious  little  purse  is  not  destined  to  fall  ' 
prey  to  thieves,  nor  his  precious  little  person  to  panthersa 


272         EXPERIENCE.  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

The  persuasion  which  is  said  to  have  sustained  the  great 
Wesley,  in  his  dangers  and  difficulties,  operates  as  no 
small  degree  of  assurance  in  the  writer's  mind  also  :  he 
holds  himself  immortal  till  his  work  is  done. 


Jan.  3.  I  am  on  board  the  steamboat  Vicksburg,  bound 
to  Natchez.  The  news  from  above,  is,  that  the  river 
is  frozen  solid,  as  far  down  as  Randolph,  in  Tennessee, 
which  is  two  hundred  miles  below  the  confluence  of  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi !  An  event  of  the  kind  is  not  known 
to  have  happened  before.  The  temperature  here  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  I  preached  in  the  Court-house 
last  night,  without  a  fire,  with  tolerable  comfort. 

Jan.  4.  Arrived  at  Natchez,  and  sought  out  James 
M'Crea,  a  merchant,  and  resident  in  the  city,  who  received 
me  very  gladly,  and  i  am  to  be  his  guest  during  my  stay. 
It  is  said  there  never  has  been  a  Universal ist  sermon 
preached  here;  which,  if  true,  is  strange,  considering  the 
age  of  the  place.  And  yet  not  more  strange  than  that  the 
same  should  have  been  the  case  with  regard  to  Pittsburg, 
until  the  winter  of  1835.  We  have  appointments  out  for 
meetings  on  Saturday  night  and  Sunday,  in  the  City  Hall; 
a  central  and  very  commodious  room  for  the  purpose. 
There  are  two  evil  influences  which  most  seriously  aflect 
the  Universalist  preacher's  chance  of  success  in  these 
southern  cities,  these  are  bigotry  and  indifference.  Of  the 
two,  1  scarely  need  remark,  the  latter  is  far  the  worse. 
It  is  easier  overcoming  the  intemperate  heat  of  the  one, 
than  the  frigidity  of  the  other. 

"  You  see,  sir,"  said  a  gentleman  to  me,  after  informing 
me  that  he  regarded  all  the  religious  sects  with  equal 
favor,  "  You  see,  sir,  that  I  am  very  liberal."  "Very,'' 
I  replied;  "it  is  the  same  kind  of  liberality  which  I  my- 
self entertain  towards  the  parties  in  French  politics — the 
liberality  of  indifference.  How  easy  it  is  to  be  liberal  in 
regard  to  things  for  which    we  care  not  a  straw." 

In  a  former  itinerary  of  travels  in  the  South,  I  describ- 
ed Natchez  as  a  romantically  beautiful  place.  I  am  now 
disposed  to  ratify  that  description,  and  to  carry  it  further. 
Indeed,  it  is  not  easy  to  exaggerate  the  praise  of  Natchez; 
on  the  score  of  beauty,  it  really  is  not.  I  have  rambled 
through  it,  and  about  it,  in  all  directions,  and  every  new 
ramble  brought  new  beauties  to  my  eye.  I  should  never 
weary  of  Natchez.     No  city  of  the  size  that  1  have  seen, 


OF   A   UNIVERSALIST   PREACHER  ^73 

can  boast  near  so  many  fine  buildings;  none  can  boast  a 
more  pleasingly  varied  scenery;  none  can  pretend  to  a 
comparison  with  it  in  the  number  and  diversity  of  its  ever- 
greens, or  the  tastefulness  of  its  gardens  and  parterres. 
In  these  respects,  it  certainly  stands  unrivaled  by  any 
town  within  the  range  of  my  acquaintance.  Yet  would  I 
not  be  understood  as  claiming  for  its  scenery  an  equality 
with  that  of  many  other  places  I  have  seen,  in  regard  to 
those  grand  and  startling  features,  which  compose  the 
awful  and  the  sublime.  Here  are  no  towering  ledges,  no 
overhanging  masses  of  rock,  no  impetuous  torrents, 
awakening  mountain  echoes  by  their  rush  and  fall.  The 
prevalent  characteristic  of  the  scenery  here,  is  a  boldness 
and  brokenness  of  outline,  softened  by  a  voluptuous  ever- 
green covering,  and  the  unimpeded  and  placid  flow  of  the 
river.  Oh!  it  is  deligtful  to  stand  on  the  verge  of  the 
bluff  on  a  fine  day,  to  see  the  lower  town  two  hundred  feet 
beneath  you ;  a  river-view  of  several  miles  in  extent,  en- 
lived  with  here  and  there  an  ascending  or  descending 
boat;  the  various  bustle  about  the  landing,  especially 
among  the  negro  draymen,  who  seem  to  employ  one  half 
of  their  time  in  getting  their  teams  in  each  other's  way, 
and  the  other  half  in  getting  them  out  again. 

By  the  way.  these  negroes  are  sad  brutes  in  the  man- 
agement of  horses  and  oxen.  My  heart  has  ached  at 
witnessing  the  remorseless  cruelty  they  exercise  toward 
these  dumb  animals.  Oh!  why  is  it,  since  the  mercy  of 
their  owners,  or  drivers,  is  so  slender  a  defence  against  ill- 
treatment,  that  the  shield  of  law  is  not  extended  over  these 
faithful  drudges  of  mankind?  My  God!  if  the  doctrine  of 
metempsichosis  be  true,  I  pray  that  my  soul  be  not  doom- 
ed to  pass  into  the  body  of  an  ox,  or  a  horse,  with  a  negro 
(white  or  black)  for  my  driver! 

About  a  mile  above  Natchez  is  a  place  called  the  Punch 
Bowls,  which  is  well  worthy  a  visit.  It  consists  of  an  iso- 
lated track  of  pine  woods,  tall  and  stately,  (itself  a  curios- 
ity, for  there  is  no  pine  growth  in  the  vicinity  for  many 
miles,  and  this  tract  does  not  include  more  than  one  hun- 
dred acres.)  Still  the  chief  attraction  are  the  bowls  them- 
selves, of  which  there  are  three,  with  very  narrow  slips 
of  unbroken  ground  between,  on  which  the  spectator  can 
stand  and  look  down  into  these  circular  gulfs,  which,  by 
the  measurement  of  my  eye,  I  should  pronounce  full  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  depth,  and  nearly  perpendicular. 


f  74         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

on  all  sides  save  that  towards  the  river.  It  makes  a  weak 
head  swim  to  look  down  into  them.  As  these  cavities  are 
covered  with  a  luxuriant  growth  of  trees,  they  must 
afford  fine  retreats  from  the  heats  of  the  upper  air  in  sum- 
mer. I  wonder  that  some  quick  sighted  Yankee  has  not 
ere  now  secured  a  monopoly  in  these  bowls,  and  improved 
them  for  the  health  of  his  own  pocket.  It  would  be  no 
bad  speculation,  1  think. 

Jan.  15.  1  took  a  railroad  ride  to-day,  to  Washington, 
five  miles'  from  Natchez.  It  is  the  seat  of  a  tolerable 
flourishing  college,  and,  considered  merely  with  reference 
to  its  scenery,  it  is  a  sufficiently  charming  little  place; 
quiet  and  rural;  but  with  little  to  boast  of  in  the  way  of 
buildings,  and  in  an  evident  state  of  decay,  which  must  be 
hastened  by  the  passage  of  the  railroad  through  it  to 
Jackson. 

This  is  the  season  here  for  sowing  onions,  lettuce, 
radishes,  etc.  I  saw  many  so  employed  as  the  cars  passed 
along.  Odd  sort  of  business  this,  for  the  middle  of  Jan- 
uary! But  the  weather  is  as  balmy  as  any  day  in  June, 
with  us  at  the  North.  I  think,  indeed,  we  have  few  days 
so  soft,  in  any  season;  it  fulfills  my  ideal  of  the  weather 
of  Italy. 

Jan.  18.  Took  stage  to-day  for  Woodville,  forty  miles 
from  Natchez,  in  a  direction  a  little  east  of  south.  You 
may  infer,  from  the  little  I  have  said  on  the  subject,  that 
my  success  in  Natchez  was  not  such  as  to  elate  me  very 
greatly.  I  preached  nine  sermons  there  to  congregations 
numbering  as  low  as  fifty,  in  one  or  two  instances,  and 
not  much  exceeding  a  hundred,  in  any,  which,  for  a  place 
of  its  population,  was  but  indifferent  encouragement.  I 
had  expected  a  greater  manifestation  of  public  interest  in 
the  matter  from  its  mere  novelty.  But,  ah  me!  there  is 
too  prevalent  an  indifference  to  religion  in  southern  cities. 
Through  the  daily  papers  I  had  respectfully  invited  the 
attention  of  the  clergy  to  what  was  going  on.  I  assured 
them  that  if  I  was  mistaken  in  my  religious  opinions,  1 
was  very  sincerely  so,  and  would  therefore  take  in  good 
part  their  pointing  out  of  my  errors,  and  would  give  them 
the  liberty  of  doing  so  at  the  conclusion  of  my  meetings. 
Nevertheless,  but  three  or  four  of  them  did  me  the  honor 
to  hear  me,  and  neither  of  them  w^as  so  benevolent  as  to 
shed  the  illumination  of  truth  upon  my  unfortunate  blind- 
ness, from  which,  however,  it  must  not  be  inferred  that 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  276 

they  were  hard-hearted,  for  I  learned  that  some  of  them, 
to  others,  expressed  their  pity  for  me,  and  their  abhor- 
rence of  my  heresy;  and  furthermore,  they  acknowledged 
that  for  so  bad  a  man,  I  might  be  a  tolerable  good  one,  etc. 
But  still  they  left  me  in  undisturbed  possession  of  my  dan- 
gerous errors,  and  the  public  to  the  unopposed  influence 
of  my  dangerous  teaching. 

In  journeying  southwardly  from  Natchez  the  country 
assumes  new  beauty;  I  mean  the  forest,  not  the  soil;  its 
evergreens  increase  in  number  and  diversity,  and  when 
you  have  got  so  far  as  Woodville,  these  are  become  so 
prevalent,  that  you  are  ever  and  anon  cheated  into  the  im- 
pression that  the  season  is  that  of  summer;  which  decep- 
tion is  much  aided  by  the  blandness  of  the  temperature. 
Oh!  what  a  beautiful  forestl  By  universal  consent,  the 
magnolia  is  crowned  queen  of  southern  sylvan  beauties: 
(when  beauties  are  the  subject,  the  gender  must  be  femi- 
nine.) Next  in  rank,  is  the  wild  peach;  then  the  holly, 
perhaps,  or  the  pine;  then  there  are  the  live-oak,  the  wil- 
low oak,  the  sweet  bay,  all  evergreens,  besides  nu- 
merous shrubs,  as  the  Cherokee  rose,  the  myrtle,  etc.,  (I 
give  them  the  popular  names,)  among  which  I  could  ram- 
ble and  make  poetry  forever  and  ever,  supposing  I  were  a 
poet. 

About  midway  between  Woodville  and  Natchez,  is  a 
river  called  the  Homicheta — 1  will  not  vouch  for  the 
orthography — across  which  the  stage  is  carried  in  a  flat. 
But  across  the  adjoining  swamps,  which  is  of  great  depth  in 
high  water,  and  two  or  three  miles  in  width,  it  does  not 
get  so  comfortably.  My  stars,  but  it  is  a  perilous  passage 
at  such  times!  We  passengers  rid  ourselves  of  over- 
coats, and  other  impediments  to  swimming,  and  put  down 
the  coach  windows,  that  we  might  have  a  chance  of  egress 
in  case  of  an  overset;  an  occurrence  extremely  probable, 
and  one  that  had  actually  taken  place  the  day  before. 
We  fared  better,  however;  and  by  holding  up  our  feet,  as 
the  water  rolled  across  the  floor  of  the  stage,  we  got 
through  without  a  wetting. 

What  a  sweet  little  place  this  W^oodville  is,  both  in 
itself,  and  in  regard  to  the  surrounding  country.  In  my 
opinion,  no  interior  town  in  Mississippi  can  vie  with  it,  and 
it  must  be  a  healthy  place  too,  for  its  situation  is  elevated. 

There  is  a  greater  uniformity  of  soil  over  the  entire 
State  of  Mississippi,  than  any  other  territory  of  equal 


276         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

extent  within  my  acquaintance.  I  have  been  much  over 
the  larger  part  of  it,  and  I  find  the  same  general  quality 
of  soil  obtains  from  its  northern  to  its  southern  extremity. 
The  upland  is  a  soapy  clay,  extremely  liable  to  wash 
away  with  the  rains,  and  therefore  to  be  scooped  into  deep 
gullies.  In  some  parts,  a  method  of  plowing,  termed 
circular  plowing,  is  adopted,  to  prevent  this  washing, 
and  with  success,  where  the  surface  is  not  too  uneven.  On 
the  creeks  and  rivers,  the  soil  is  fertile  in  the  highest  de- 
gree, and  of  great  depth;  bearing,  in  its  natural  condition, 
a  forest  which  may  well  be  termed  tremendous,  and  a  tail 
and  compact  growth  of  cane. 

It  is  subject,  however,  to  the  disadvantages  of  extensive 
marshes,  and  stagnant  pools,  and  to  periodical  overflows, 
which  engender  malaria,  and  render  the  atmosphere  any 
thing  but  favorable  to  health;  at  times,  most  deadly.  My 
friend,  Mr.  B.,  informed  me  that  he  had  lost  twenty-four 
negroes,  by  death,  in  one  season;  and  there  are,  in  his 
family  cemetery,  more  than  a  hundred  adult  negro  graves, 
besides,  I  know  not  how  many,  of  those  of  infants.  Mrs. 
B.  gave  me  a  most  melancholy  picture  of  some  of  these 
seasons  of  mortality.  On  a  plantation  remote  from  neigh- 
bors, far  from  foreign  aid,  she  has  spent  months  and 
months  together,  without  seeing  a  white  face.  Coffins 
could  not  be  procured  to  meet  the  rapid  and  urgent  de- 
mand. It  was  found  necessary,  therefore,  to  substitute 
such  boxes  as  could  be  found  on  the  premises,  which  had 
formerly  contained  the  family  groceries,  or  dry  goods  ; 
and  for  shrouds,  the  numbers  of  the  Philadelphia  Saturday 
Courier  were  substituted.  I  have  somewhere  seen  it 
stated,  by  one  of  its  publishers,  relative  to  the  cheapness 
of  that  paper,  that  its  numbers  were  sometimns  used  for 
lahle-cloths  in  the  wilds  of  the  West.  This  I  have  myself 
seen,  and  for  window  curtains^  bed  curtains,  and  paper- 
ing for  the  best  room  of  the  better  sort  of  log  cabins. 
I  have  also  seen  other  of  the  large  Philadelphia  and  New 
York  papers,  of  our  heretical  publications,  employed 
in  a  similar  way.  But  what  publisher,  in  our  Atlantic 
cities,  dreams,  on  folding  a  paper  for  the  far  South,  that  it 
is  destined  to  perform  the  office  of  a  negro  shroud. 

Well,  I  have  somewhat  enlightened  the  reader,  I  trow, 
on  the  subject  of  negro  weddings  and  burials,  and  be- 
fore I  close  this  chapter  of  my  itinerary,  I  must  increase 
his  obligations    to  me  by   a  recital,  verbatim  et  literatim, 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  277 

of  "  the  form  of  sound  words,"  employed  on  the  wed- 
dmg  occasion  afore-mentioned,  by  the  magistrate  of  color. 
My  readers  may  have  seen  negro  marriages  for  them- 
selves ;  but  1  question  if  many  of  them  have  seen  the 
business  transacted  by  an  ebony  official.  Therein  con- 
sists the  main  glory  of  the  spectacle.  As  it  was  a  perfect 
novelty  to  me,  my  memory  has  carefully  hoarded  it  in 
her  cabinet  of  curiosities.  Thus  it  ran — "  Missur  Jacob 
Bacon — all  negroes  bear  the  surnames  of  their  masters, — 
you  take  dis  yere  gal  for  yourweddin  wife;  you  takin  her 
better  for  wus;  you  promis  to  tick  too  her,  and  lib  unto 
you  die;  and  may  de  Lor  hab  mercy  on  you  soul :  slute 
you  bride."  I  fear  I  should  not  do  justice  in  an  attempt 
to  describe  the  smack  which  followed  the  closing  injunc- 
tion. 1  can  think  of  nothing  belter  with  which  to  com- 
pare it,  than  the  popping  of  a  cork  out  of  a  bottle  of 
veast. 


Jan.  22.  I  am  now  at  Clinton,  seat  of  justice  for  East 
Feliciana  parish,  Louisiana,  where  I  have  been  treated, 
from  the  first,  with  more  unaffected  kindness  than  I  have 
elsewhere  met  with  in  the  South,  if  1  may  except  New- 
Orleans. 

It  is  ever  better  to  lean  toward  right,  rather  than  toward 
what  may  seem  seJf -inter est;  for  it  will  be  found  in  the 
issue,  that  the  former  necessarily,  and  therefore  invariably, 
involves  the  latter.  How  oft  has  experience  forced  upon 
me  a  conviction  of  this  truth.  And  yet,  alas!  how  oft 
have  1  denied  it  in  practice.  In  my  first  visit  to  Louisi- 
ana, however,  I  acted  upon  it  fully.  When  times  were 
good  at  the  South,  I  wrote  to  a  Post  master  in  Louisiana, 
that  I  would  visit  the  country,  and  preach  in  it  for  a 
month,  if  I  should  be  previously  assured  of  a  reimburse- 
ment of  half  my  traveling  expenses.  This  assurance  he 
readily  gave,  and  I  in  return,  gave  him  a  positive  promise 
of  a  visit.  Between  this  promise,  and  the  time  for  its  ful- 
tillment,  that  signal  reverse  of  times  occurred,  which  even 
yet  continues,  and  no  part  of  the  Union  was  to  a  greater 
extent  affected  by  it,  than  the  cotton  growing-regions  of 
the  South.  Their  staple  fell  to  less  than  half  its  former 
price,  and  their  money  to  half  its  nominal  value.  In  this 
state  of  things,  I  seriously  doubted  whether  the  promise 
made  to  me  in  better  times,  could  be  fulfilled.  But  no 
matter,  my  pledge  was  given,  and  come  what  would,  my 


278         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

honor  was  concerned  to  redeem  it.  But  to  make  matters 
worse,  I  had  commenced  writing  and  publishing  the  Pro 
AND  Con.  I  was  issuing  it  te  subscribers,  in  numbers  of 
twenty-four  pages;  but  four  (out  of  sixteen)  of  these  were 
out;  and  I  owed  the  printer  for  the  fourth.  Not  a  dollar 
had  I  to  apply  to  that  debt,  nor  to  future  issues;  no  cer- 
tain income  from  any  source  ;  for  my  publication  pre- 
vented my  entering  into  regular  professional  engagements, 
and  I  was  most  seriously  concerned  to  know  how  I  should 
discharge  my  obligations  to  my  subscribers.  My  conclu- 
sion, however,  was,  if  I  could  do  no  better,  to  sell  the 
little  property  I  had,  and  return  each  one  his  money. 
Meanwhile,  the  time  came  for  starting  to  Louisiana.  Had 
I  consulted  my  private  inclinations,  1  would  have  preferred 
to  go  North,  East,  or  West,  rather  than  South;  because  I 
had  hope  of  finding  friends  to  my  doctrine,  and  patrons 
for  my  book,  in  the  former  directions;  whereas  in  the 
latter,  I  felt  sure  of  finding  very  few  of  either.  Never- 
theless, having  obtained  the  consent  of  my  wife,  whom  I 
consult  in  every  thing,  (as  in  my  judgment  every  husband 
should,)  I  threw  myself  upon  Providence,  and  made  the 
venture.  Do  you  ask  the  issue,  reader?  It  was  in  every 
way  antipodal  to  my  expectations;  in  no  other  direction 
could  I  have  gone,  and  met  results  one  half  so  favorable. 
It  even  seems  to  me  to  have  been  the  only  step  I  could 
have  taken  for  my  extrication.  This,  however,  is  all  very 
egotistical.  Yet  the  reader  may  forgive  it  for  the  moral 
it  conveys. 

Feb.  1.  I  have  preached  a  number  of  discourses  in  and 
about  Clinton;  my  reception  is  every  way  more  cheering 
than  it  was  last  Spring.  My  audiences  are  larger;  appli- 
cations for  preaching  are  more  numerous;  many  are  ex- 
tending toward  me  a  fuller  confidence,  and  a  more  cordial 
friendship  than  they  before  evinced.  I  am  now  at  Liberty, 
Amite  county,  Mississippi,  where  my  audiences  are  very 
large,  and  where  they  listen  with  apparently  motionless 
attention.  The  gentleman,  (  an  M.  D.)  with  whom  I  stay, 
informs  me  that  he  has  never  witnessed  amongst  the  com- 
munity of  the  place  so  undivided  a  feeling,  as  is  expressed 
in  regard  to  the  matter  preached.  The  publisher  of  the 
newspaper  here,  was  a  resident  at  Pittsburg  at  the  time  of 
my  first  visit  to  that  city.  He  witnessed'  my  being  stoned 
and  ejected  from  the  Court-house  there.  His  representa- 
tion, together  with  those  of  an  eminent  lawyer  of  the 


OF   A   UNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  279 

place,  who  had  heard  me  somewhere  else,  were  of  service 
in  preparing  for  me  a  favorable  reception.  In  this  way, 
I  often  find  that  the  bread  cast  upon  the  waters  appeareth 
after  many  days.  Our  national  habits  are  so  migratory, 
that  a  sermon  preached  in  one  of  our  populous  cities,  may 
be  compared  to  a  hand-full  of  seed  thrown  from  an  emi- 
nence in  a  high  wind.  Some  will  lodge  in  the  immediate 
vicinity,  and  there  germinate,  whilst  others  will  be  scat- 
tered abroad,  and  seem  to  be  lost,  until  the  fruit  starts  up 
in  places  where  it  is  least  looked  for,  and  every  body  is 
puzzled  to  account  how  it  got  there. 

The  preacher  who  would  locate  in  this  country  with 
advantage  to  himself  and  his  cause,  must  be  a  man  of 
cultivated  mind  and  manners;  not  meaning  by  the  latter, 
a  fashionable  polish,  but  merely  an  agreeahleness ;  and 
above  all,  he  must  betray  no  littleness  of  character  ;  no 
picayune  qualities  of  mind  ;  for  nothing  is  regarded 
with  more  contempt  at  the  South,  than  this  trait.  A 
man  may  swear,  gamble,  get  drunk,  fight,  any  thinn:, 
(barring  abolitionism,)  and  may  still  get  along  bravely, 
provided  that  he  displays  a  magnanimous  and  generous 
temper.  The  only  unpardonable  sins  here,  are  pusila- 
nimity  and  abolitionism. 

There  are  now  two  Unitarian  ministers  in  this  region, 
who  were  formerly  of  the  Methodist  connection.  One  is 
Professor  Wooldridge  ,of  Louisiana  College,  in  this  parish, 
— of  whom  I  have  spoken  heretofore — the  other  is  Mr. 
Renea,  who  has  a  plantation  in  Amite  county,  adjoining. 
These  are  important  accessions  to  the  liberal  cause  here, 
and  I  hope  much  from  their  influence.  .But  oh  !  how 
utterly  alone  am  I  in  my  heresy!  These  gentlemen  are 
considered  as  Simon  Pures,  compared  with  me ;  there  being 
no  preacher  of  the  kind  within  more  than  a  thousand 
miles  in  any  direction ;  nor  has  there  ever  been  one  in 
the  parts  before  me.  It  may  therefore  be  conceived  how 
much  erroneous  prepossession  requires  to  be  removed,  in 
order  to  our  doctrine's  being  heard  with  any  tolerable 
acceptance. 

It  is  not  here,  in  this  respect,  as  I  found  it  in  the 
Wabash  country,  Indiana;  for  there  the  ground  is  fully 
prepared  for  the  Universalist  preacher,  by  the  constant 
flow  of  emigration  from  the  Eastern  States.  He  finds  our 
books  and  papers  to  have  traveled  thither  before  him. 
Hence,  when  I,  a  year  ago  last  fall,  visited  Terre-Haute, 


280         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

Lafayette,  Crawfordsville,  etc.,  although  no  preacher  of 
our  doctrines  had  ever  preceded  me  at  those  places,  I 
nevertheless  found  that  they  were  pretty  well  known,  and 
favorably  considered  by  the  people  generally.  1  could 
scarcely  bring  myself  to  realize  that  they  were  being 
promulgated  there  for  the  first  time.  Now  in  the  interior 
districts  of  the  South,  the  case  is  far  otherwise.  They 
are  populated  mainly  from  Virginia,  Georgia,  and  the 
Carolinas;  and  one  may  travel  a  hundred  miles  together, 
without  falling  in  with  one  of  our  publications,  or  with  an 
individual  who  has  ever  heard  one  of  our  ministers.  The 
work  of  conversion,  therefore,  mast  be  done  from  the 
beginning. 

Fel).  5.  Mr.  Campbell  is,  for  the  first  time,  a  visitant  of 
this  country.  I  heard  him  discourse  to-day,  at  Clinton. 
His  Hv'rmon  contained  much  that  was  admirable,  and  a 
j.<'.-j  that  was  not  so.  He  told  us  our  first  mother  was 
t  ...p'o;]  to  eat  an  apple,  by  a  fallen  angel  in  a  snake.  This 
in  sober  earnest!  Is  he  not  a  pvom'is'mg  reformer  ?  With 
his  manner,  also,  which  is  very  charming  in  general,  I 
was  not  entirely  pleased — it  is  too  magisterial.  He  may 
think  it  beneath  his  dignity  to  convince  by  ratiocination; 
great  men  seldom  reason,  they  dogmatize;  and  Mr.  C.  is  a 
great  man.  He  puts  forth  matter,  trite  and  common-place, 
with  an  air  which  says,  "  1  am  revealing  new  truths."  He 
informed  us,  for  example,  that  the  word  save,  and  its  deri- 
vatives, do  not  always  imply  the  being  made  happy  in 
eternity,  but  sometimes  the  being  delivered  from  sin  and 
error  in  time.  He  even  hinted  that  the  Universalian 
error  is  mainly  owing  to  an  ignorance  of  this  distinction. 
Heard  you  ever  the  like  of  that?  Mr.  C.  must  be  most 
deeply  learned  in  Universalism! 

"  When  it  is  said  that  '  God  is  the  Savior  of  all  men,' 
we  are  to  understand  it  as  meaning,"  quoth  Mr.  C.  '•  that 
he  merely  saves  all  men  temporally;  that  is,  from  sick- 
ness, accidents,  death,  etc.*'  It  follows,  then,  thought 
unlearned  and  simple  I,  that  all  men  are  actually  saved 
from  these  things  ;  that  sickness,  accidents,  death,  etc., 
never  take  place  in  regard  to  any;  for  God  is  the  Savior 
of  ALL  men!  Now,  if  facts  contradict  his  theory, we  are 
by  no  means  to  distrust  the  correctness  of  the  great  re- 
former! oh,  no.  We  must  rather  blame  the  facts,  which, 
as  every  body  knows,  are  perverse  and  obstinate  things. 
*'  The  temporal  salvation  is  conditional,''^  says  Mr.  C,  "  as 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  281 

weli  as  the  spiritual  and  eternal."  Well,  if  this  be  so, 
none  are  sick,  none  suffer,  none  die,  but  those  who  have 
violated  the  conditions  ;  but  infants  of  a  day,  are  sick, 
suffer,  and  die;  therefore  infants  of  a  day  have  violated 
the  conditions.  Here's  reform  for  you.  Moreover,  if 
"^^  God  is  the  Savior  of  all  men,"  merely  by  preserving 
them  from  sickness,  dangers,  death,  etc.,  why  is  he  not  as 
well  the  Savior  of  all  animals,  as  of  all  7ne7i  ?  Why  is  not 
the  proposition  equally  true  with  regard  to  all  birds,  beasts, 
fishes,  and  insects?  I  really  can  see  no  reason.  It  were 
better,  methinks,  even  to  admit  the  heresy  of  Universal- 
ism,  than  to  turn  the  Scriptures  into  nonsense  in  the 
■effort  to  evade  it. 

Feb.  10.  It  has  been  raining  for  a  week,  unceasingly. 
When  it  rains  in  this  country  in  the  winter  season,  (which, 
by  the  way,  is  not  seldom,)  it  does  so  in  good  earnest.  In 
the  impressive  language  of  Moses,  the  windoivs  of  heaven 
open;  and  for  days  and  nights  together,  the  water  comes 
•down  in  torrents.  I  had  made  arrangements  for  going  on 
horseback  from  Clinton  to  Lake  Ponchartrain,  whence  1 
€ould  have  crossed  to  New  Orleans  in  two  hours.  I  was 
to  have  preached  at  several  places  on  the  route,  and  to 
have  been  furnished  with  ahorse  from  one  to  another,  and 
with  a  servant  to  bring  it  back  ;  but  the  rains  have  so 
swollen  the  streams  that  the  route  is  now  impracticable. 

Feb.  12.  Arrived,  by  stage,  at  Bayou  Sara,  to-day, 
which  is  the  landing  place  for  this  part  of  Louisiana.  A 
boat  happened  to  be  passing  up  the  river,  which  sent  its 
yawl  ashore  for  some  passengers,  from  the  hotel  at  which 
I  stopped.  In  the  hurry,  my  cloak  was  thrown  amongst 
their  baggage,  and  I  knew  nothing  of  the  matter,  till  h 
was  too  late  to  be  remedied.  So,  good-bye  to  my  cloak. 
I  then  walked  up  to  St.  Francisville,  three-fourths  of  a 
mile,  which  is  the  seat  of  justice  for  West  Feliciana 
parish,  and  most  charmingly  situated.  My  object  was  to 
get  up  a  meeting  for  that  night.  This  I  soon  accomplish- 
ed, although  it  lacked  but  half  an  hour  of  night.  I  knew 
not  a  soul  there;  it  was  a  sheer  adventure,  and  it  proved 
a  very  successful  one. 

Feb.  13.  Embarked  for  New  Orleans,  which  from  this 
point  is  distant  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  and  as  sweet 
a  sail  as  any  one  can  well  wish,  bestrewed  all  tfie  way 
with  beautiful  buildings  on  each  shore,  and  presenting  an 
unbroken  succession  of  sugar  plantations — a  perfect  series 
19 


2S2  EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

of  pleasant  and  varying  pictures,  which,  however,  by 
their  frequency  and  prettiness,  fatigue  the  eye.  What 
happy  shores  would  these  be,  but  for  the  pestiferous  little 
heathens,  the  mosquitoes!  These,  in  the  summer  season, 
are  so  numerous,  that  if  a  lighted  candle  be  exposed  in 
the  house,  they  will  extinguish  it  almost  instantly.  It 
would  be  found  impossible  for  persons  to  sit  out  a  meal  at 
table,  was  it  not  for  the  office  of  Cuffee,  with  his  wisp. 
This,  and  an  occasional  epidemic  which  sweeps  along 
these  lovely  shores,  are  serious  drawbacks  on  their  love- 
liness. It  is  well  that  it  is  so,  however,  for  otherwise 
every  body  would  be  flocking  to  them;  for  there  is  a 
great  charm  in  green  gardens  in  mid-winter.  There  is  a 
charm,  too,  in  having  a  refreshing  sea-breeze  to  fan  the 
cheek  on  a  summer  night,  which  here  is  invariably  the 
case.  And  there  is  also  a  charm  in  being  so  near  the 
tropics  that  its  fruits  and  vegetables  are  ever  on  your 
table.  But  nature  is  ever  wont  to  blend  some  foibles 
with  her  beauties;  and  she  has  not  departed  from  her  rule 
in  this  case.  So  on  the  whole,  taking  its  advantages  and 
disadvantages  together,  a  residence  on  the  Mississippi 
coast  is  not  very  greatly  to  be  coveted. 

From  New  Orleans,  I  proceeded,  by  way  of  Lake  Pon- 
chartrain,  to  Mobile,  and  thence  up  the  river  to  Selma, 
three  hundred  miles.  The  former  I  found  to  be  a  very 
handsome  city  in  itself,  though  far  from  being  strikingly 
so  in  its  situation.  It  lies  on  a  dead  level  v/ith  the  Bay  of 
the  same  name,  whose  water  is  too  shoal  to  admit  of  the 
larger  class  of  ships  getting  up  to  the  city;  and  the  coun- 
try circumjacent  is  low,  tame,  and  sterile. 

I  called  on  the  Unitarian  minister,  Mr.  Simmons,  who 
gave  his  cordial  consent,  after  an  hour  or  so  of  conversa- 
tion on  the  subject,  to  my  occupying  his  church  for  some 
lectures,  on  my  return  from  up  the  country.  He  proved 
quite  unread  in  Universalism,  not  even  being  aware  that  we, 
with  his  own  church,  reject  the  Trinity,  and  other  errors 
of  that  tribe !  "  What  will  be  the  character  of  the  lectures 
you  propose  delivering  in  my  desk?"  he  inquired. 

"As  explicitly  doctrinal  as  I  can  possibly  make  them," 
was  my  answer. 

"  And  do  you  really  think  that  will  be  your  best 
course?"  he  inquired,  with  unfeigned   surprise,   "seeing 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  283 

that  so  great  a  prejudice  exists  against  your  views  in  this 
community." 

"  Most  decidedly  so,"  I  answered,  "  and  for  that  very 
reason.  It  may  happen  now,  as  it  did  to  Paul,  that  we  may 
make  men  our  enemies  by  telling  them  the  truth;  but  the 
truth,  nevertheless,  must  he  told.  And,  sir,"  I  added,  "  you 
must  excuse  me  for  saying,  that  I  deem  it  an  erroneous 
policy  on  the  part  of  your  ministry,  that  it  has  shrunk 
from  a  bold  and  decided  advocacy  of  your  distinguishing 
doctrines.  We,  as  a  denomination,  have  less  learning  than 
you;  less  wealth;  less  age;  a  less  respectable  history;  and 
yet,  with  all  these  disadvantages,  we  are  leaving  you  far 
behind  us  in  respect  to  increase  of  numbers,  and  extent  of 
spread.  And  why?  Simply  because  we  address  ourselves 
to  the  common  sense  of  the  people;  we  make  intelligible 
to  them  both  the  distinction  between  ourselves  and  others, 
and  the  grounds  therefor,"  etc,  etc. 

At  Selma,  I  experienced  a  huge  amount  of  most  ill-na- 
tured and  ill-mannered  bigotry.  Such  a  series  of  gross 
and  gratuitous  insults,  it  has  never  been  my  fortune  to  ex- 
perience, so  near  together,  within  the  whole  course  of  my 
ministry.  First :  The  mistress  of  the  house  where  I  first 
took  lodging,  at  the  express  invitation  of  a  boarder  of 
highly  respectable  character,  expressed  extreme  uneasi- 
ness at  my  being  under  her  roof,  lest  the  people  of  the 
place  might  suspect  herself  and  hushand  of  favoring  my 
doctrine  !  Second:  Application  having  been  made  for  one 
of  the  churches  on  my  account,  by  a  lady,  of  whom  it 
would  not  be  too  much  to  say,  that  within  fifty  miles, 
or  as  far  as  she  was  known,  not  one  enjoyed  a  higher  repu- 
tation for  virtue  and  amiability,  the  ill-mannered  saint  to 
whom  she  had  made  it,  v/rote  her  for  answer :  That 
her  preacher  "had  better  be  following  the  plow-slilts, 
than  going  about  the  country  disseminating  immorality;" 
and  that  he  "  wondered  at  so  respectable  a  lady  as  she, 
len  Hng  countenance  to  a  man  who  went  about  putting 
dowu  religion,"  etc.  Third:  While  several  meeting-houses 
in  iha  place  stood  idle,  for  want  of  clergymen,  I  could  ob- 
tain for  my  meetings  no  house  but  the  theatre.  And. 
fourth,  When  a  kind-hearted  inn-keeper  invited  me  to  be 
her  guest,  from  sheer  pity  to  me,  because  I  could  be  no 
wher>"  else,  two  of  her  boarders  took  upon  them  to  rernon- 
atraro  with  her  for  opening  her  doors  to  so  (Jangerous  an 
individual! 


284         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

All  this  in  the  South!  the  chivalrous  South!  And  by 
persons,  too — I  fear  not  to  adventure  the  declaration — 
who  knew  not,  and  in  their  secret  hearts  cared  not  for 
the  difference  between  Chrisiianity  and  Mohammedanism. 
Persons  of  sordid,  time-serving  souls,  who,  for  a  mess  of 
pottage,  would  have  sold  their  birthright  to  freedom  of 
person  and  conscience;  and  in  whose  hands  the  life  of 
Christ  would  have  been  in  as  unsafe  keeping  as  in  those  of 
Judas,  if  thirty  pieces  of  silver  had  been  set  against  it. 

Now  I  can  bear  such  treatment  with  tolerable  patience, 
when  it  proceeds  from  those  who  are  sincere  in  their  reli- 
gion; and  it  is  quite  possible  for  those  who  are  so,  to  per- 
secute. Such,  for  example,  was  Paul.  But  when  such 
bigotry  is  exhibited  by  persons  whose  religion  is  a  mere 
thing  of  worldly  policy,  I  despise  it  too  heartily  to  endure 
it  with  a  martyr's  composure.  And  as  to  the  religion 
of  Selma,  I  greatly  mistake  if  it  could  not  have  been  all 
bought  up  at  the  price  of  a  few  negroes,  or  a  few  hundred 
cotton-bales. 

In  amusing  contrast  with  the  above-recorded  conduct, 
as  well  as  illustrative  of  the  truth  of  the  last  paragraph, 
I  must  state  that,  at  the  instance  of  a  beautiful  woman  of 
our  faith,  in  the  place,  the  Episcopalians  consented  to  de- 
posit a  copy  of  the  Pro  and  Con  of  Universalism,  under 
the  corner-stone  of  their  church  in  Selma! 

Well,  at  General  Brantley's,  eight  miles  out,  I  found  a 
pleasant  way-side  harbor,  where  my  weary  heart  could 
be  sure  of  finding  sympathy.  There  I  several  times 
preached;  as  I  also  did  in  the  lecture-room  of  a  seminary, 
equally  far  from  Selma  in  another  direction.  Meanwhile, 
a  reaction  was  going  on  in  my  favor  in  the  public  mind 
at  Selma,  which  secured  me  large  audiences  in  the 
theatre.  And  the  little  band  of  believers  there — females, 
every  one — were  wrought  up  to  a  tone  of  heroic  self- 
devotion  to  their  faith,  by  the  very  virulence  of  the  oppo- 
sition which  had  raged  against  it.  These  1  constituted  into 
a  little  church,  and  in  the  theatre ;  and,  in  the  presence  of 
a  large  congregation,  I  administered  to  them  the  symbols 
of  our  Lord's  broken  body  and  spilt  blood. 

With  a  horse,  borrowed  for  the  purpose,  I  visited  and 
preached  in  numerous  places  in  middle  Alabama,  viz. : 
Marion,  Montgomery,  Washington,  Wetumpka,  Mount 
Olympus,  etc.  These  journeyings  involved  long,  hot, 
dreary,  and  fatiguing  rides;  which,  together  with  the  men- 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  285 

tal  weariness  and  loathing  I  had  experienced,  reduced  me 
to  the  last  supportable  stage  of  bodily  exhaustion. 

It  is  worth  one's  while  to  be  thoroughly  homesick  be- 
times, for  the  delight  which  one  experiences  at  every 
stage  of  his  homeward  progress.  I  can  conceive  of  no 
pleasure  more  vivid  than  is  felt  by  the  traveler,  when 
arrived  within  sight  of  his  dwelling,  after  a  long  absence.  • 
He  sees  the  dog  at  the  door,  the  window-shutters  unclosed, 
the  smoke  ascending  from  his  chimney,  and  all  things 
indicating  that  the  beloved  inmates  are  at  home  and  in 
health.  But  if  such  is  his  ecstacy  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances, how  much  greater  is  it  when  his  absence  has 
been  attended  with  unusual  hardships  and  imminent  dan- 
ger! Such  precisely  was  my  own  case  in  the  present 
instance;  and  most  devoutly  did  I  thank  my  Almighty 
Father  for  this  last  and  signal  instance  of  his  providential 
protection. 

On  Saturday,  May  25th,  I  arrived  by  stage  at  Natchez, 
from  Woodville — the  distance  between  the  two  places  is 
thirty-eight  miles, — the  country,  for  the  last  twenty  miles 
is  fertile  and  pleasing,  presenting  a  continuous  succes- 
sion of  extensive  cotton  plantations,  under  excellent  cul- 
ture; the  magnolias  being  in  full  flower,  exhibited,  in  the 
contrast  of  their  deep  green  leaves  and  large  white 
blossoms,  a  most  beautiful  appearance.  The  weather 
was  intensely  hot  and  dry;  the  thermometer,  I  am  told, 
stood  at  one  hundred  degrees  in  the  shade;  it  seemed 
unaccountable  to  me  that  the  land  did  not  take  fire  and 
burn  up  ;  yet  the  corn  and  cotton  looked  exceedingly 
thrifty.  It  must  be  that  this  soil  endures  drought  much 
better  than  do  the  limestone  lands  of  the  West.  I  thought 
the  same  when  I  was  here  a  year  ago;  at  which  time  the 
dry  weather  continued  two  months  without  any  apparent 
effect  on  vegetation. 

At  Natchez,  1  tarried  with  James  M'Crea,  to  whose 
kindness  I  feel  under  great  obligations.  He  is  almost 
the  only  person  avowedly  of  our  faith  in  the  place.  In 
the  evening,  as  the  weather  was  extremely  sultry,  I  joined 
a  little  party  in  a  walk  to  the  hluff,  which  overlooks  the 
river  and  the  lower  town,  and  is  two  hundred  feet  above 
them.  Here  the  eye  can  take  in  a  reach  of  the  great 
Mississippi,  of  some  ten  or  twelve  miles  in  length ;  and 
besides  that,  the  scene  embraces  every  object  in  the  lower 


286        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

town,  and  a  little  villa  and  handsome  court-house  on  the 
opposite  shore:  it  is  almost  always  enlivened  by  boats 
ascending  or  descending,  by  flats,  and  rafts,  and  even 
some  ships.  This  elevated  plateau,  is  a  very  favorite 
evening  promenade  with  the  citizens,  and  deservedly  so. 
I  know  of  nothing  in  the  United  States  equal  to  what 
this  might  be  made,  with  a  little  labor,  ^owever  still 
the  atmosphere  elsewhere,  one  may  here  always  enjoy 
the  luxury  of  a  cool  breeze,  which,  in  so  warm  a  climate, 
is  object  enough  to  make  it  a  chief  place  of  public  resort. 
And  yet,  a  little  levelling,  and  a  few  rude  benches  placed 
along  the  brow  of  the  bluff,  are  the  sum  of  the  improve- 
ment bestowed  on  a  place  which  nature  has  fitted  to  be  one 
of  the  most  delightful  promenades  in  the  world, 

I  was  to  have  preached  on  Sunday,  but  all  the  public 
rooms  in  the  city  were  pre-engaged;  and  it  was  quite  as 
well  they  were  so,  for  the  flood  of  burning  sun-shine  in 
the  streets,  and  the  clouds  of  heated  dust  which  every 
motion  stirred  up,  rendered  the  stepping  out  of  doors 
nearly  intolerable;  and  it  is  not  likely  that  the  audience 
would  have  been  large;  for  Natchez  is  a  place  of  some 
bigotry  and  more  indifference.  On  Sunday  night  1  em- 
barked on  board  of  the  Buckeye,  bound  for  Louisville.  It 
was  brightly  moonlight;  and  as  the  beautiful  boat  forced 
its  way  up  the  river,  at  the  rate  of  seven  or  eight  knots 
an  hour,  it  caused  a  motion  of  the  air,  which,  after  the 
sultriness  of  the  day,  was  truly  delightful.  The  Missis- 
sippi scenery  rather  loses  than  gains  in  interest,  as  you 
ascend  it  from  Natchez;  the  shores  become  less  and  less 
populous,  and  the  few  openings  that  are  seen,  are  marked 
by  very  indifferent  improvement;  the  shores,  moreover, 
are  flat  and  uniform,  continually  wearing  away  by  the 
attrition  of  the  current,  and  liable  to  be  overflowed  in 
times  of  high  water. 

The  Gen.  Brown,  which  met  with  an  explosion  last 
winter,  by  which  thirty-three  lives  were  destroyed,  had 
passed  Natchez  about  two  hours  before  the  Buckeye  came 
up,  and  as  both  these  boats  had  some  celebrity  for  speed, 
it  was  a  point  on  board  of  the  latter  to  overtake  the 
former,  as  it  undoubtedly  was  on  board  of  the  former  to 
keep  ahead.  These  races,  if  they  may  be  so  termed, 
cannot  be  avoided,  there  exists  too  many  inducements  to 
them;  even  the  passengers,  one  and  all,  will  stimulate 
the  crew  to  every  exertion,  to  enable  the  boat  in  which 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  287 

they  are  to  pass  another,  or  to  prevent  its  being  passed. 
It  is  not  uncommon  in  these  trials  of  speed,  to  incease  the 
steam  by  throwing  tar   and  rosin  into   the  fires. 

I  was  walking  to  and  fro  on  the  forecastle  deck,  on  Tues- 
day evening,  enjoying  the  moonlight,  we  being  under 
a  high  pressure  of  steam,  for  the  Gen.  Brown  was  plain  in 
sight,  and  great  was  the  excitement  on  board  our  boat; 
happening  to  cast  my  eye  along  the  line  of  water  between 
the  two  vessels,  I  saw  with  alarm  that  we  were  running 
full  upon  a  large  snag.  I  would  have  called  out  to  the 
pilot,  but  surely,  thought  I,  so  large  an  object  cannot 
escape  his  notice  in  the  clear  moonlight.  Yet  on  we 
sped  towards  it  with  fearful  velocity,  and  never  turned 
from  the  course  we  were  pursuing,  until  we  were  within 
a  few  yards  of  it.  It  would  seem  that  the  man  at  the 
wheel  never  saw  it  till  then,  so  intent  was  he  in  catching 
up  with  the  Gen.  Brown.  He  now  threw  the  bow  around 
to  avoid  the  danger;  but  too  late.  The  snag  took  us  just 
forward  the  wheel-house,  which  it  carried  away  with  a 
tremendous  crash ;  it  then,  by  the  motion  of  the  boat,  was 
drawn  farther  up,  and  protruded  through  the  cabin  floor, 
tearing  it  away  for  a  space  of  about  eight  feet,  by  three 
or  four  in  breadth;  it  also  completely  demolished  three 
state  rooms,  and  pushed  off  the  escape  pipe.  Happily  no 
pa.ssengers  were  in  that  part  of  the  boat  at  the  moment, 
or  they  must  have  been  killed.  It  was  also  fortunate  that 
the  steam  pipe  escaped,  which  it  did  by  only  a  few  inches, 
otherwise  it  is  probable  that  a  majority  of  all  on  board 
would  have  perished.  On  afterwards  surveying  the  dam- 
age, all  expressed  astonishment  at  the  narrowness  of  the 
escape,  but  a  still  narrov/er  one  awaited  us;  of  which,  by 
and  by. 

These  snags  are  pretty  numerous  in  the  Mississippi, 
and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  they  always  point  directly 
down  stream.  They  consist  of  the  trunks  and  larger 
branches  of  immense  trees,  the  roots  of  which,  being 
very  heavy,  adhere  to  the  bed  of  the  river,  while  the 
trunk  is  buoyed  up  by  the  water  in  an  oblique  position. 
Conceive  the  concussion  which  the  running  of  a  large 
boat,  at  the  rate  of  eight  or  ten  miles  an  hour,  against 
the  point  of  one  of  these  must  occasion!  It  often  leaves 
but  a  few  minutes'  space  for  jumping  overboard,  ere  the 
boat  finds  it  way  to  the  bottom.     Many  a  beautiful   and 


288         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

richly  freighted  vessel  has  thus  met  its  fate  on  the  waters 
of  the  West. 

Thursday,  May  30th,  was  my  birth-day,  and  most 
strangely  was  it  destined  to  be  signalized.  We  were 
now  on  the  part  of  the  river  of  which  Tennessee  forms 
one  boundary  and  Arkansas"  the  other.  The  river  was 
rapidly  rising,  by  copious  rains  above,  and  was  full  of 
drift.  It  would  astonish  you  to  see  the  enormous  trees 
which  are  floated  down  at  such  times.  The  engine  had 
to  be  stopped  every  few  minutes  to  avoid  a  concussion 
with  these  troublesome  customers.  Such  continued  to  be 
the  case  all  day,  and  during  the  night.  From  some  cause, 
whether  from  this  circumstance,  or  from  the  accident  of 
the  snag,  I  cannot  tell,  but  every  one  on  board  had,  as 
it  afterwards  appeared,  a  presentiment  of  danger.  I  heard 
several  of  the  passengers  express  a  reluctance  to  go  to 
bed.  The  clerk  afterwards  remarked,  that,  for  the  first 
time  since  he  had  been  on  the  boat,  he  had  that  night 
gone  to  bed  with  his  clothes  on,  and  even  with  his  watch 
suspended  to  his  neck.  The  captain  also  had  been  heard 
to  say,  that  he  dreaded  something,  for  that  accidents 
seldom  come  singly.  I  will  not  pretend  to  have  been 
wholly  unaflx!Cted  by  the  prevalent  foreboding,  but  at 
any  rate  it  did  not  prevent  my  going  to  bed,  and  getting 
into  a  sound  sleep.  Towards  midnight  I  was  awakened 
by  the  bustle  proceeding  from  the  landing  of  the  boat 
at  a  wood-yard.  "  Put  her  forward  a  stroke  or  two," 
bawled  the  captain.  "Some  drif  in  de  wheel,  sir,  can't 
uncouple  him,"  answered  the  negro  fireman.  "  Forward 
with  herl"  reiterated  the  captain,  at  the  top  of  his  voice. 
"  Can't,  sir,''  was  again  replied.  Meanwhile  no  steam 
was  let  off,  and  from  the  smell  of  the  burning  iron,  I  could 
distinctly  perceive  that  there  was  not  water  enough  in 
the  boilers. 

We  are  on  the  very  point  of  an  explosion,  thought  I, 
snatching  up  my  cloak  at  the  instant,  and  holding  it  in 
readiness  to  protect  myself,  if  possible,  from  the  hot 
steam.  The  thought  had  scarcely  passed  through  my 
mind,  when  it  was  realized,  with  a  noise  like  the  loudest 
thunder,  and  a  shock  like  an  earthquake;  and  then  the 
hubbub  that  ensued  is  unimaginable.  "We're  on  fire!" 
"We're  sinking!"  All  was  utter  darkness,  for  every 
light  was  extinguished  by  the  shock. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  289 

One  of  the  boilers,  which  was  blown  into  the  river, 
went  bubbling  and  hissing  by,  kept  from  sinking  for  a 
minute  by  the  hot  water  it  contained.  Close  in  its 
vicinity  arose  the  cries  of  a  poor  fellow  who  had  been 
blown  overboard,  but  who,  happily  could  swim,  and  thus 
escaped.  The  captain  was  sent  full  fifty  yards  into  the 
air,  but  lighting  in  the  water  near  the  shore,  he  received 
but  little  injury.  One  of  the  pilots,  who  was  in  his  berth 
at  the  time  of  the  accident,  also  lighted  in  the  water,  but 
he  is  since  dead  from  his  hurts.  The  pilot  who  was  at 
the  wheel,  was  found  among  the  rubbish  on  the  boiler 
deck.  I  assisted  in  carrying  him  out,  and  in  dressing  his 
corpse  the  next  day.  The  acting  engineer  was  found 
under  the  larboard  shaft,  his  head  blown  off,  and  other- 
wise shockingly  mangled.  The  mate,  who  was  in  his 
state  room,  was  blown  nobody  knows  where;  he  was  a 
name-sake  of  mine,  and  a  resident  of  Cincinnati.  These, 
in  addition  to  two  passengers  and  a  fij-eman,  who  was 
found  lying  on  his  face  with  the  keel  of  the  yawl  across 
the  small  of  his  back,  nearly  severing  it  asunder,  were 
all  to  whom  the  explosion  proved  fatal.  Some  six  or 
seven  others  were  wounded. 

From  the  total  wreck  which  the  boat  next  day  presented, 
it  seemed  wonderful  that  the  destruction  was  not  much 
greater,  and  so  it  doubtless  would  have  been  had  the 
explosion  occurred  in  the  daytime;  for  then  the  persons 
aboard  would  have  mostly  been  forward  of,  or  over  the 
the  boilers,  and  could  not  have  escaped  being  blown  to 
atoms.  It  was  also  a  favorable  circumstance  that  all  three 
of  the  boilers  were  blown  clear  overboard — one  into  a 
cornfield  on  shore — for  thereby  the  damage  usually  done 
by  the  scalding  water  was  avoided.  To  the  boat  itself, 
the  shock  was  unusually  destructive,  but  to  those  on  board 
it  was  less  disastrous  than  usual.  As  a  Doctor  had  been 
sent  for,  to  .Randolph,  six  miles  below,  to  minister  to  the 
sufferers,  the  citizens  of  that  place  were  apprised  of  the 
catastrophe,  and  great  numbers  of  them  came  up  to  see  us 
next  day  in  a  small  steamboat. 

To  the  traveler  returning  from  the  South,  after  a  long 
absence,  to  his  home  on  the  Ohio,  the  reaching  the  mouth 
of  that  beautiful  stream,  is  an  event,  and  a  thrilling  one, 
too,  believe  me;  and,  home  feelings  and  local  partialities 
apart,  it  does,  without  question,  continually  gain  in  beauty 
as  you  ascend  it.     Oh !  how  delightedly  I  feasted  my  eyes 


290         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

on  its  scenery!  It  won  me  from  study — even  from  light 
reading.  I  surveyed  its  sweet  little  islands;  its  sometimes 
sloping,  sometimes  alluvial,  and  sometimes  perpendicular 
shores;  its  tributary  brooks  and  rivers;  its  towns  and 
villas.  Had  the  gift  of  writing  poetry  been  in  me,  equal 
to  that  of  perceiving  and  feeling  it,  I  should  doubtless  have 
been  guilty  of  concluding  my  itinerary  in  rhyme,  instead 
of  this  half-crazy  prose.  I  reached  Louisville  on  Sunday 
evening,  just  a  week  from  the  time  of  my  embarkation  at 
Natchez,  sufficiently  tired  of  steamboating,  and  most  de- 
lighted to  set  my  foot  once  more  on  terra  Jirma.  On  my 
arrival  at  Cincinnati,  I  had  the  happiness  to  find  my 
family  well,  for  which,  and  all  his  other  mercies,  may 
the  God  of  all  goodness  be  praised.     Amen. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

Reviews  Mr.  Raper  against  Universalism — Holds  a  public  dicussion 
with  Mr.  Lucas,  at  Wilmington,  Ohio — Has  a  Theological  pas- 
sage  oi  arms  with  a  Methodist  preacher  at  Waynesville,  Ohio — 
Some  risks  and  hardships  from  high  water  in  the  Muskingum 
Valley — How  shall  the  drunkard  be  disponed  of  after  death  } 

My  first  employment  after  my  return,  was  to  write 
and  publish  a  pamphlet  of  thirty-six  pages,  in  review  of  a 
work  of  the  same  size  put  forth  by  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Book  Concern  of  Cincinnati,  purporting  to  be  a  refu- 
tation of  Universalism,  by  the  Rev.  \V.  H.  Raper.  I  sold 
sixteen  hundred  copies  of  my  review  in  the  brief  spac« 
of  four  months.  In  June  I  attended  the  meeting  of  the 
Miami  Association,  at  Montgomery.  From  thence  Judge 
Baldwin  took  me  in  his  carriage  to  his  home  at  Edwards- 
ville,  and  from  thence  John  Mitchell  conveyed  me,  first 
to  his  own  home,  and  then  to  Wilmington,  the  capital 
of  Clinton  county.  On  our  arrival  at  the  latter — toward 
the  close  of  the  day — application  was  made  to  the  Re- 
formers for  the  use  of  their  meeting-house  that  evening; 
it  was  replied,  that  an  appointment  existed  for  preaching 
therein  on  that  evening,  by  Mr.  Lucas,  a  gentleman  who 
enjoyed  a  high  position  in  respect  to  talents  amongst  that 
people;  but  that,  nevertheless,  if  I  would  agree  to  his 
immediately  following  me,  with  a  reply  to  my  digaoui'se, 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  291 

the  use  of  the  pulpit  should  be  granted  me.  This  condi- 
tion was  agreed  to,  and  I  occupied  the  desk. 

"  It  is  easily  possible  for  me,"  said  I,  when  I  arose  to 
speak,  ''  to  avoid  occupying  debatable  ground  in  my 
discourse,  and  that  would  leave  Mr.  Lucas  nothing  to 
reply  to;  for  there  are  many  points  which  christians  of 
every  name  hold  in  common.  But,  then,  you  would  all 
be  disappointed,  if  I  should  take  that  course  and  it  would, 
also  seem  that  I  feared  to  subject  my  faith  to  a  public  ex- 
amination; which  is  as  far  as  possible  from  being  the  fact. 
I  shall,  therefore,  take  a  course  directly  the  reverse,  and 
shall  present  no  points  before  you  but  such  as  there  is  a 
broad  issue  upon,  between  us,"  I  did  so,  accordingly,  in 
as  concise  a  way  as  was  possible  to  me,  and  resigned  the 
desk  to  Mr.  Lucas,  after  an  occupancy  of  about  forty 
minutes. 

He  then  followed  in  a  tart  replication  of  full  an  hour 
and  a  half,  and  he  would  not  then  have  ceased  if  symptoms 
of  uneasiness  had  not  manifested  themselves  on  the  part 
of  the  audience,  which  drew  from  me  a  remonstrance  at 
the  unreasonable  length  of  his  strictures.  An  altercation 
then  ensued,  which  resulted  in  an  arrangement  between 
us  to  meet  at  nine  o'clock  next  morning,  and  debate  the 
subject  until  six  in  the  evening.  There  were  some  half  a 
dozen  of  his  ministers  present,  and  almost  the  entire  con- 
gregation, also,  were  with  him  in  the  general  issue;  for 
our  doctrine  had  not  been  preached,  and  had  no  believers 
in  the  town. 

I  had  left  to  Mr.  Lucas  the  choice  of  a  question  for  de- 
debate,  only  requiring  that  it  should  be  such  as  would 
involve  a  clear  issue  between  us.  He  chose  the  following, 
"Will  all  mankind  be  unconditionally  saved  in  the  future 
state?"  I  was  for  striking  out  the  word  unconditionally, 
because  of  its  being  somewhat  ambiguous,  and  withal,  su- 
perfluous; for  the  real  issue  between  Universalists  and 
others,  respects  the  ultimate  salvation  of  all  men,  in  any 
manner;  it  respects  the  fact  itself,  not  the  mode  of  it. 
However,  as  he  had  been  engaged,  aforetime,  in  a  discus- 
sion, with  one  of  our  ministers,  of  the  precise  form  of 
question  as  he  proposed;  and  as,  moreover,  he  had  with 
him  the  notes  of  that  discussion,  he  was  so  averse  to  an 
alteration  of  it,  that  I  had  to  let  him  have  it  his  own  way, 
or  not  have  a  discussion  at  all.  The  result  was,  that  it 
threw  me   upon  proving,  that,  whatever   are  the  condi- 


292        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

tions  upon  which  our  ultimate  salvation  depends,  God's 
word  is  pledged  for  their  being  complied  with  on  the  part 
of  all  mankind. 

If  an  emnt  is  determined  upon  by  Him  whose  om- 
niscience foresees  and  whose  omnipotence  controls  all 
things,  it  implies,  of  course,  that  all  the  intermediate 
means,  which  are  necessary  to  the  fulfillment  of  that  event, 
are  also  determined  upon.  If,  therefore,  we  could  prove 
from  the  Bible  no  more  than  the  naked  fact,  that  Jehovah 
has  deter minately  purposed  the  final  salvation  of  all,  that 
would  be  sufficient  of  itself;  and  the  showing,  on  the  part 
of  our  opponents,  that  such  final  salvation  depended  upon 
certain  conditions,  would  not  countervail  against  our  proof, 
nor  affect  it  in  anywise.  Nevertheless,  we  can  do  more; 
we  can  adduce  the  pledge  of  God's  word  for  the  ultimate 
fuliilaiiCiit  of  those  very  conditions,  on  the  part  of  universal 
humanity.     Let  us  see. 

Is  righteousness  a  condition  of  salvation  ?  Very  well. 
"  As  by  the  disobedience  of  one  many  were  made  sinners, 
so  by  the  obedience  of  one  shall  many  be  made  righteous." 
Romans  5:  19.  From  this  is  seen,  first.  That  the  same 
number  is  necessarily  included  in  the  latter  many  as  in  the 
former,  and  therefore,  that  neither  can  be  limited  so  as  to 
exclude  any  portion  of  mankind;  and,  second.  That  all 
who  are  thus  included,  all  who  became  sinners  by  reason 
of  the  first  offence,  "  shall  be  made  righteous."  Of 
course,  then,  this  condition  is  to  be  universally  complied 
with.  Is  the  being  united  to  Christ,  and  conformed  to  his 
image,  a  condition  of  salvation  ?  Again,  very  well.  "  As 
in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made 
alive."  "And  as  we  have  borne  the  image  of  the  earthly" 
— as  who  have?  why  all  who  have  descended  from  him,  of 
course, — ^^we  shall  also  hear  the  image  of  the  heavenly." 
1  Cor.  15:  22,  49.  It  is  impossible,  according  to  this 
testimony,  to  exclude  any  of  the  posterity  of  Adam  from 
a  participation  in  Christ's  image  at  the  time  of  their  resur- 
rection. Hence,  in  respect  to  all  mankind,  this  condition 
also  shall  be  eventually  fulfilled.  Is  a  moral  subjugation 
to  Christ,  accompanied  by  a  belief  in  and  confession  of 
him,  a  condition  of  salvation?  Yet  again,  very  well. 
"  Wherefore  God  also  hath  highly  exalted  him,  and  given 
him  a  name  which  is  above  every  name  :  That  at  the 
name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven, 
of  things  in  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth;  and  that 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  293 

every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to 
the  glory  of  God  the  Father."     Phil.  2  :  9,  10,  1 1.     I  arn 
aware  that  it  may  be  objected  that  here  the  fact  is,  in  our 
English  version,  expressed  in  the  potential  form,  "  that 
every  knee  sJwuld  bow,  and  that  every  tongue  should  con- 
fess."    This,  however,  is  but  a  peurile  objection,  and  can- 
not be  urged  by  any  one  acquainted  with  the  Greek  reading. 
Nevertheless,  as  proof  direct  must  be  the  arbiter  here,  we 
will  go  back  to   1  Cor.  15,  where  it  is  shown  that  all,  in 
the  resurrection,  are  to  be  subject  to  Christ,  in  like  man- 
ner as  Christ  himself  is  to  be  subject  to  the  Father,  and 
that  then  God  shall  be  all  in  all.     And  that  this  subjection 
is,  as  respects  mankind,  of  a  moral  nature,  is  evident  from 
the  fact  that  all  men  are  already  subject  to  Jehovah  and 
his  Christ,  in  every  other  than  a  moral  sense.     Thus  is 
this  condition  also  to  be  universally  complied  with.     Is  the 
being  freed  from  corruption,  and  brought  into  the  liberty 
of  God's  children,  another  condition  of  salvation?     Once 
again,  I  say  very  well;  for  in  Rom.  8  :  21,  it  is  declared, 
that  "the  creature   [ptisis,  or  whole  creation,]  shall  he 
delivered  from  the  bondage  of  corruption,  into  the  glorious 
liberty  of  the  children  of  God."     In  the  following  verse, 
the  same  ptisis,  there  rendered  "  the  whole  creation,"  is 
represented  as   groaning  and   travailing   for   this  event. 
And  that  this  ptisis  implies  the  mass  of  unredeemed  hu- 
manity, in  distinction  from  the  portion  thereof  who  in  this 
life  have  experienced    the  adoption,  seems  most  clearly 
manifest  from  the  verse  immediately  succeeding.     "  And 
not  only  they,  but  ourselves  also,  which  have  the  first 
fruits  of  the  spirit,  even  we  ourselves  groan  within  our- 
selves, waiting  for  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption  of 
our  hodyy     So  we  see  that  this  condition  also  is  to  be  com- 
plied with  on  the  part  of  our  whole  race. 

Is  a  knowledge  of  God  another  requisite  to  salvation? 
Still  very  well;  for  see  Isaiah  11  :  4,  5;  Psalms  86  :  9  ; 
22:  27,28,  29;  and  Heb.  8:  10,  11,  12;  whence  it  will 
appear,  that  eventually  all  are  to  be  brought  into  posses- 
sion of  this  prerequisite.  The  reader  will  perceive  from 
all  this,  that  our  opponents  cannot  successfully  maintain 
an  issue  with  us  on  the  ground  of  the  conditionality  of  the 
future  salvation. 

In  the  course  of  that  same  Summer,  I  introduced  the 
gospel  of  a  world's  salvation,  at  Springborough,  Warren 
county,  which  is  among  the  most  beautiful  of  the  many 


294         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

beautiful  regions  of  Ohio.  I  mean  not  that  the  gospel, 
as  we  hold  it,  had  never  before  been  preached  there;  I 
believe  it  had,  a  few  times,  a  considerable  while  previous; 
but  no  fruits  thereof  were  visible.  My  first  sermon  was 
delivered  in  a  Justice's  office,  but  as  it  could  not  accom- 
modate as  many  as  wished  to  hear,  the  use  of  a  commodious 
saloon  was  obtained  for  the  next  evening  ;  a  stove  and 
seats  being  taken  into  it  for  the  occasion;  and  the  audience 
was  then  large  and  attentive,  embracing  several  members 
of  the  society  of  Friends.  The  interest  which  was  awak- 
ened in  the  place,  by  that  visit,  was  kept  alive  by  frequent 
subsequent  preachings  by  others,  till  at  length  a  large 
society  was  gathered,  and  an  excellent  meeting-house 
erected  there. 

I  preached  also  at  Ridgeville,  in  the  same  region;  at 
Centre ville,  at  the  widow  Baird's,  at  Lebanon,  and  at 
Waynesville.  At  the  last  named  place,  one  of  my  clerical 
auditors,  of  whom  I  had  several,  appointed  a  sermon  for 
the  Sabbath  following,  in  review  of  one  I  had  preached 
from  the  last  paragraph  of  Matthew  xxv.  He  was  a  gen- 
tlemanly man,  and  of  good  attainments,  and  I  therefore 
determined  to  attend  to  what  he  had  to  say.  Accordingly, 
on  the  day  appointed,  I  went  from  Eidgeville,  accompanied 
by  several  gentlemen  who  had  formed  part  of  my  morning 
congregation,  and  arrived  at  Waynesville  just  as  my  re- 
viewer was  commencing  his  meeting.  It  struck  me  that,  if 
he  was  like  orthodox  preachers  in  general,  it  would  not  be 
at  all  to  his  taste  to  have  me  respond  to  his  review,  and 
that  there  would  be  no  harm  in  my  taking  measures  to  se- 
cure another  house,  in  case  he  might  exclude  me  from  that 
which  he  occupied. 

The  event  justified  me  in  this  precautionary  measure, 
for,  toward  the  close  of  his  discourse,  he  stated  that  its  use 
could  not  be  granted  me  for  a  reply;  that  as  the  teacher  of 
the  school  in  that  building,  he  had  a  right  of  control  over 
it,  etc.  Fortunately,  however,  I  had  seen  the  trustees  of 
the  building,  and  a  majority  of  them  had  granted  me  the 
right  of  its  occupancy  for  my  purpose.  I  accordingly  re- 
sponded to  his  discourse  :  an  immense  audience,  including 
several  preachers  of  his  fraternity,  being  present.  I  took 
up,  point  after  point,  as  he  had  presented  it,  and  calmly, 
and  in  a  kind  spirit,  exposed  what  I  believed  to  be  his 
errors.     He  himself  had  also  been  calm,  and  respectful, 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  295 

SO  that  no  chafed  feeling  between  us  interfered  with  the 
right  exercise  of  reason  and  judgment. 

When  I  had  done,  I  offered  him  the  right  he  had  tried 
to  deny  to  me;  but,  acknowledging  that  1  had  met  all  the 
points  in  his  discourse  in  b.  candid  and  courteous  manner, 
he  professed  himself  unable  to  rejoin  at  that  time,  but  re- 
marked that  he  possibly  might  do  so  on  some  future  occasion. 
I  never  afterwards  heard  from  him  on  the  subject,  however. 

Sometime  subsequent,  while  I  was  preaching  in  that 
same  academy,  a  troop  of  boys  assembled  about  it,  furnish- 
ed with  tin  pans  and  other  noisy  implements;  and  they  so 
much  disturbed  my  meeting,  that  it  was  impossible  to  pro- 
ceed with  it.  I  regretted  to  learn  that  the  rioters  were 
headed  by  a  son  of  that  same  Methodist  preacher  !  It  is 
certain  that  I  found  his  argument  a  more  difficult  one  to 
answer  than  his  father's  had  been. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  I  was  conveyed  by  one 
of  our  preachers,  to  Sydney,  Troy,  Piqua,  Houston,  St. 
Mary's,  and  other  places  in  the  counties  of  Miami,  Shelby, 
and  Mercer,  in  the  extreme  western  part  of  the  State. 
The  winter  following,  I  traveled  by  my  own  conveyance, 
into  numerous  parts  of  Clermont,  Highland,  Ross,  Picka- 
way, Franklin,  Licking,  Muskingum,  Morgan,  and  Wash- 
ington counties.  The  winter  was  intensely  cold,  conse- 
quently the  driving  was  less  impeded  by  mud,  than  it  is  apt 
to  be  in  Ohio  in  that  season.  Whilst  I  was  at  Marietta, 
however,  a  sudden  thaw  ensued,  accompanied  by  copious 
rains  for  several  days  together;  the  result  was,  that  the 
waters  of  the  Muskingum  were  swollen  much  beyond  their 
usual  limits,  and  the  roads  which  run  along  the  shore 
of  that  river  were  inundated.  I  had  no  small  trouble  from 
that  circumstance,  as  I  must  now  particularly  relate. 

I  was  to  preach,  on  the  first  night  after  leaving  Marietta, 
at  McConnelsville,  which  is  distant  from  there  something 
over  forty  miles,  by  the  best  route.  Well,  knowing  that  a 
hard  day's  work  was  before  me,  1  took  an  early  start,  and 
found  in  the  first  few  miles,  which  lie  along  the  river, 
several  places  where  deep  wading  was  necessary.  But  the 
road  struck  across  the  hills,  after  a  little,  and  so  kept  on 
for  fifteen  miles,  which  brought  me  to  the  Universalist 
mec-ing-house,  at  Watertown,  near  which  I  stopped  at  Mr. 
Bee;  h's,  barely  long  enough  to  leave  him  his  horse,  which 
I  hud  borrowed  on  my  way  down,  and  to  get  my  own. 

Accompanied  by  him,  I  then  rode  to  the  ferry,  where  I 


296         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

must  needs  cross  the  river;  when  arrived  there,  however, 
I  was  informed  that  I  could  not  be  taken  across  on  account 
of  the  rapid  state  of  the  current,  and  the  quantity  of  drift- 
stuff  it  was  hurrying  along.  But,  upon  hard  pleading,  and 
promising  to  pay  whatever  damage  might  ensue,  1  got  set 
across  at  length  in  safety.  My  road,  however,  was  deep 
under  water;  and,  to  avoid  it,  I  had  to  keep  along  the 
slope  of  the  hills,  till  arriving  at  a  narrow  defile,  formed 
by  a  rivulet,  which  also  was  swollen,  I  had,  in  order  to 
cross  it  to  ascend  to  the  top  of  the  hill  instead  of  keeping 
along  its  slope. 

On  the  summit  of  the  hill,  I  found  a  path  for  a  while, 
but  it  ended  at  a  set  of  bars,  and  a  house,  at  which  I  had 
to  inquire  how  I  could  farther  proceed.  I  was  answered, 
that  1  must  keep  along  the  fence-side  till  I  came  to  another 
set  of  bars,  through  which  I  must  pass,  and  so  keep  on  in  a 
straight  forward  direction.  Well,  arrived  at  these  bars,  I 
perceived  the  field  into  which  they  opened,  was  complete- 
ly under  water.  Nevertheless,  as  I  supposed  they  must 
have  known  of  that  circumstance,  I  persuaded  myself  that 
it  might  be  fordable,  and  so  forced  my  reluctant  horse  into 
it.  He  had  scarcely  gone  a  dozen  paces,  ere  souse  he 
went  in  over  his  head,  and  I  was  under  him!  I  disen- 
gaged myself,  however,  and  finding  my  overcoat  too 
heavy  to  swim  in,  I  clung  to  the  saddle  till  my  horse  had 
swam  with  me  to  where  1  could  find  footing.  It  was  then, 
though,  that  our  main  difficulty  commenced,  for  the  bottom 
was  so  foul,  that  it  took  us  full  a  quarter  of  an  hour  to  get 
out,  and  then  it  was  by  a  succession  of  struggles  and  floun- 
derings,  in  each  one  of  which  I  thought  my  horse  would 
be  strangled.  When  fairly  out  of  that  "slough  of  des- 
pond," I  retraced  my  steps  to  the  house  whence  I  had  ob- 
tained direction.  This  time  I  saw  the  man,  who  was  a 
Baptist  preacher;  he  expressed  surprise  that  his  women 
should  have  directed  me  so  carelessly,  and  also  that  I 
should  have  got  safely  out  of  the  desperate  slough  1  have 
described.  He  assured  me  that  if  I  should  see  it  when  not 
inundated,  I  should  deem  it  impossible  for  one  once  in  it 
to  struggle  safely  out;  for,  besides  the  flood-stuff  therein 
accumulated,  its  bottom  was  of  quicksand.  Well,  we  in- 
dulged in  some  merriment  about  the  accident;  I  telling 
him  that  I  hoped  I  had  increased  my  chance  for  salvation, 
by  being  immersed,  in  case  my  own  doctrine  should  prove 
untrue.     He  was  kind  enough  to  conduct  me  on  my  way, 


OF  A  FNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  297 

by  a  blind  sort  of  path;  and  in  return,  I  told  him  he  might 
appropriate  to  himself  the  saddle-bags  which  had  sunk  to 
the  bottom  of  the  pond,  and  the  few  books  that  they 
contained.  * 

Having  reached  the  open  road  again,  I  put  my  horse  on 
a  gallop,  both  to  warm  our  blood,  and  to  regain  the  time 
we  had  lost.  But  alas!  we  had  proceeded  but  a  mile,  ere 
we  came  to  a  large  creek,  crossed  by  a  bridge ;  one  end 
whereof  had  been  washed  loose  by  the  flood.  Here  was  a 
predicament  again!  "How  now,  friends?"  I  enquired  of  a 
brace  of  men,  who  were  pushing  about  on  some  large  tim- 
bers, which  had  probably  drifted  from  above.  "  What's  to 
be  done  here?" 

"  Nothing,  but  to  go  back  again,"  they  replied,  "  and 
remain  till  the  water  subsides." 

"That  won't  answer  my  purpose,  though;  I  must  push 
on  at  every  risk,  for  my  engagements  demand  it;  and,  if  1 
can't  do  better,  I  will  swim  my  horse." 

"Can't  do  it,  sir;"  said  they,  "  no  horse  could  stem  this 
current,  and  it  would  be  next  to  impossible  to  hit  the  land- 
ing on  the  opposite  shore,  at  any  rate;  for  you  see  it's  but 
a  narrow  point."  Well,  all  that  was  most  true;  neverthe- 
less, after  much  planning  and  contriving,  they  managed  to 
get  my  horse  over,  by  making  him  swim  alongside  of  one 
of  the  timbers  on  which  they  were  floating,  while  one  of 
them  drew  the  timber  over  to  the  opposite  shore  by  a  rope, 
I  standing  thereon,  and  holding  my  horse  to  his  proper 
position.  Altogether,  I  was  detained  there  for  a  full  hour, 
shivering  in  my  wet  clothes  the  while.  But,  I  have  sur- 
mounted all  the  difficulties  of  the  way  now,  thought  I,  and 
by  pushing  rapidly  forward,  I  may  get  to  McConnelsville 
in  due  season. 

Aha!  I  was  reckoning  without  my  host  again,  for  a  quar- 
ter of  a  mile's  ride  brought  me  once  more  to  the  river 
shore,  and  I  was  in  the  act  of  turning  up  at  a  right  angle, 
when  a  voice,  issuing  from  a  small  log  building  near  the 
road-side,  greeted  me  with  the  discouraging  intelligence, 

*  H.  P.  Sage  writes— see  Star  in  the  West,  March  30,  1844— that 
it  was  not  for  naught,  that  myself  and  horse  had  our  difficulties,  in 
that  treacherous  pool.  The  books  fished  up  from  its  bottom  were 
subsequently  read  to  good  efTect  in  the  parts;  the  Baptist  preacher 
himself  became  a  convert  to  the  faith;  and  by  the  co-operating 
agencies  of  several  of  our  zealous  ministers — Sage,  Edwards,  and 
Flanders — a  good  society  and  meeting-house  now  exist  there. 

20 


298  EXPERIENCE,    LAFOKS,   AND    TRAVELS 

^'  You  can't  come  it,  sir."  "  Why,  what's  the  matter  now?"" 
inquired  I.  "  You'll  find  your  road  ten  feet  under  water^ 
sir,  in  half  a  mile  farther."  "Indeed!  and  is  there  no 
way  of  getting  around  it?"  "Yes,  but  the  devil  must 
show  it  you,  for  you  can't  find  it  without."  "But,  my 
dear  sir,  I  have  no  particular  acquaintance  with  that  per- 
sonage j  he  is  no  friend  of  minej  could  you  not  do  as  well?^* 
"Can't,  sir;  I  am  too  much  hurried;  byt  I  can  direct  you 
in  part.  Keep  the  plain  road  till  you  come  to  a  cabin  on 
the  hill-side,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  here — there 
take  a  dim  path  directly  up  the  hill;  you  will  find  that  to 
branch  off  in  various  directions — take  the  northernmost  of 
these,  and  keep  it  if  you  can;  but  I  forewarn  you  that  you 
will  need  good  eyes  to  be  able  to  trace  it."  In  this  last 
particular,  my  invisible  friend  proved  a  true  prophet  cer- 
tainly, and  I  should  also  have  needed  the  assistance  of  some 
such  personage  as  he  referred  me  to,  I  trow,  if  mere  ac- 
cident had  not  thrown  other  help  in  my  way,  for  I  had  got 
to  the  very  termination  of  that  same  northernmost  path, 
and  found  myself  in  a  wild  place,  amongst  bushes  and  fal- 
len trees,  where  not  the  faintest  trace  of  a  path  was  dis- 
cernable.  I  was  wondering  what  to  do  next,  and  was 
scratching  my  head  to  assist,  as'  I  suppose,  the  sharpness  of 
my  wits,  when  two  gentlemen  most  opportunely  rode  up^ 
who  informed  me,  on  inquiry,  that  they  had  just  come 
from  the  point  which  I  was  aiming  to  reach,  and  that  it  was 
well  for  me  they  had,  as  I  should  otherwise  have  been  un- 
able to  trace  the  way,  which  was  a  blind  one,  even  to  per- 
sons acquainted  with  the  ground.  They  directed  me,  how- 
ever, with  such  particularity  that  I  succeeded  in  getting 
round  to  the  open  road  beyond  the  backwater,  and  no 
thanks  to  the  devil.  At  a  quarter  after  ten  at  night  I 
reached  McConnelsville,  as  cold  as  a  rat,  for  it  was  in  the 
middle  of  February,  and  I  had  been  in  my  wet  clothes  for 
full  eight  hours,  and  had  rode  since  morning  full  fifty 
miles.  Howbeit,  at  my  friend  Esquire  Gage's,  I  found  a 
warm  fire,  and  a  warm  welcome,  which  soon  solaced  me 
for  all  my  troubles. 

To  relieve  the  monotony  of  these  numerous  narrative? 
of  travel,  I  will  recite  a  conversation  I  had  about  that 
time  wi/i  a  sort  of  Baptist  preacher,  as  we  rode  together 
from  the  village  of  Rising  Sun  to  that  of  Vevay;  both  are 
on  the  Indiana  shore  of  the  Ohio  river.  He  had  remarked 
that  heaven,  to  him,  would  be  no  heaven  at  all,  if  every 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  '         299 

body  is  at  length  to  be  admitted  there;  and  I,  in  return, 
had  remarked  upon  the  unfeelingness  and  phariseeism  im- 
plied in  such  a  sentiment. 

"But,"  remonstrated  he,  "can  you  deny  that  there  are 
many  individuals,  with  whom  you  yourself  would  disdain 
to  associate  in  the  present  world?  Take  a  drunkard,  for 
example,  who  lies  about  in  kennels,  a  nuisance  to  society  : 
more  nauseous  even  than  ths  sow  in  her  wallow.  Would 
you  have  me  associate  in  heaven  with  such  a  wretch  as 
he?  Your  doctrine  supposes  I  shall,  and  therefore  I  reject 
it  as  degrading  and  unreasonable."" 

"  Well,  my  friend,  to  you  the  conclusion  may  seem  vast- 
ly satisfactory;  but  to  me  it  is  not  in  the  least  so,  for  look 
you  :  Suppose  that  you  really  are  as  much  that  drunk- 
ard's superior  as  you  fancy  yourself — though  in  God's  es- 
teem the  difference  may  be  less  immeasurable  than  your 
self-esteem  would  make  it — but,  be  that  as  it  may;  let  me 
ask.  Is  not  Christ,  are  not  God's  angels,  quite  as  much 
superior  to  yo2i .?" 

"Oh!  of  course  they  are,"  was  his  reply. 

"But  you,  nevertheless,  expect  to  companion  with  them 
in  heaven,  do  you  not?" 

"  Why,  y-e-s,"  replied  he,  hesitatingly. 

"  But  suppose,  my  good  friend,  that  they  should  prove  as 
fastidious  on  the  score  of  the  company  they  keep,  as  you 
appear  to  be  !  You  would  keep  that  drunkard  out  of 
heaven,  because  he  is  not  as  good  as  you.  Christ  and 
God's  angels  must  then  object  to  your  admission,  because 
you  are  not  as  good  as  they  ! 

"Well,  furthermore,"  continued  I,  "as  you  would  keep 
the  poor  fellow  from  heaven,  pray  tell  me  where  you 
would  have  him  go?  for  we  must  dispose  of  him  somehow.'''' 

"  My  Bible  tells  me,"  he  rather  pettishly  answered, 
"that  the  wicked  shall  be  turned  into  hell." 

"But  for  \\\\dX  purpose  would  you  send  him  thither? 
INTot  for  his  injury,  1  would  hope,  for  he  is  bad  enough  al- 
ready. And  if  for  his  benefit,  how  is  that  to  come  about  ? 
I  have  never  learned  that  there  is  a  temperance  society  in 
hell,  whereby  the  drunkard  can  be  reclaimed." 

"I  don't  say  there  is,"  said  he;  "neither  do  I  suppose 
that  he  goes  to  hell  for  any  good :  for  the  longer  he  is 
there  the  worse  he  will  be.  This  is  our  doctrine  on  the 
^^ubject." 

"Yes,  my  friend,  I  am  aware  of  that;  and  in  relation 


300         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

thereto,  I  can  only  say,  that  God  is  infinitely  less  the 
drunkard's  friend,  than  is  the  Washingtonian  society. 
The  latter  appeal  to  the  drunkard's  interests,  to  his  pride, 
to  his  self-respect,  to  his  obligations  to  his  family  and 
society;  and,  by  such  appeals,  they  succeed  in  arousing 
him  from  the  wallow  of  intemperance,  and  making  him  a 
sober  and  useful  man.  But  God,  the  infinite  God,  knows 
of  nothing  better  he  can  do  for  the  drunkard  than  to  hum 
him!  Whom,  then,  does  reason  say  we  should  most  ad- 
mire; those  who  would  reform,  or  him  who  would  hum 
the  drunkard?" 

"Still  further,  my  friend,"  continued  I,  after  we  had 
remained  in  silence  for  a  while;  "is  it  your  expectation 
that  you  will  be  taken  to  heaven,  just,  in  moral  respects, 
as  you  noic  are  V 

"No;  by  no  means,"  he  quickly  answered;  "God's 
grace  must  purify  and  prepare  me  for  the  place  before  I 
can  be  admitted." 

"  Why,  then,  were  you  so  uncandid  in  relation  to  the 
drunkard's  case,  as  to  argue  on  the  supposition  that  he  is 
to  go  to  heaven  without  that  preparation?  You  surely 
must  know  that  Universalism  contemplates  the  eventual 
felicity  of  all  mankind,  on  the  ground  alone  of  their 
eventual  holiness.  These  states,  we  hold,  are  essentially 
one  and  inseparable.  Now  you  surely  can  have  no  objec- 
tion to  the  drunkard,  to  all  men,  being  made  pure  and 
good  eventually,  have  you?" 

"  None,  whatever,"  was  his  prompt  reply. 

To  which,  I  added,  "  Then  you  have  none  whatever  to 
Universalism,  for  that  is  precisely  what  it  contemplates." 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

Extensive  journeyings  in  Kentucky,  and  Middle  and  Western  Ten- 
nessee. 

It  was  just  two  o'clock,  on  Thursday,  March  26th,  1840, 
when  1  stepped  off  the  ferry-boat,  at  Newport,  Kentucky, 
in  commencement  of  a  tour  to  the  South,  by  a  different 
mode  of  traveling  from  what  I  had  used  in  either  of 
my  three   former  journeys.     My  first,  the   reader  may 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  301 

remember,  was  performed  on  liorse-back,  but  after  riding 
fourteen  hundred  miles  in  this  way,  I  determined  that, 
should  1  travel  so  far  again,  I  would  take  a  less  fatiguing 
mode  for  it.  My  second  and  third,  were  made  by  steam- 
boat, the  former  of  which  passed  over  pleasantly  enough, 
but  as  in  the  latter  I  was  first  run  aground  some  ten  or 
twelve  times,  then  snagged,  and  finally  blown  up;  1  con- 
cluded I  had  traveled  enough  after  that  fashion,  for  some 
time.  I  am,  therefore,  making  my  present  journey  in  a 
b"ggy»  which  enables  me  to  ride  dry  in  wet  weather, 
and  to  carry  books  for  the  supply  of  such  as  may  need 
them. 

At  noon,  on  the  second  day,  I  stopped  at  a  private  house 
to  refresh  myself  and  horse,  there  being  no  Irin  on  the 
road;  the  mistress  of  the  house  seemed  a  devout  old  lady, 
and  quite  disposed  to  make  me  devout  also,  provided  I 
was  not  so  already.  After  trying  to  pump  me  on  this 
point,  and  receiving  so  little  satisfaction  that  she  began 
to  set  me  down  as  one  of  the  ivorld^s  people,  she  exclaimed 
with  a  pious  sigh,  "Oh-h-h!  it's  a  ter-ri-ble  thing  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  God ! "  "  We  must  all  fall  into  his 
hands,  madam,"  I  replied.  "  Yes,  but  it's  an  aw-ful  thing 
to  fall  into  his  hands  unprepared.^'^  "  And  how  many  of 
us,  madam,  acquire  the  needed  preparation,  do  you  sup- 
pose?" "Ah I  very,  very  few,  indeed;  it  is  an  awful 
thought,  how  few  there  are  who  stand  prepared!"  "Are 
you,  madam,  among  that  favored  few?  "  "  I  hope  I  am, 
sir."  "And  are  all  your  children  also?"  The  old  lady's 
answer  to  this  question  was  evasive;  I  believe  she  began 
to  suspect  me  of  a  design  to  quiz  her. 

The  same  night  I  arrived,  about  seven  o'clock,  at  Old- 
ham's ferry,  over  against  Falmouth,  which  is  the  shire 
town  of  Pendleton  county:  it  had  kept  me  busy  till  that 
late  hour  to  make  a  distance  of  twenty-seven  miles  that 
day.  Such  was  the  extreme  roughness  and  hilliness  of 
the  road,  which,  with  the  exception  of  its  having  been 
denuded  of  the  trees  which  originally  covered  it,  exhibited 
no  marks  of  its  having  been  subjected  to  repairs  since  the 
fall  of  Adam.  Three  miles  of  my  way  ran  along  Kinkaid's 
creek,  and  ever  and  anon  the  road  runs  into  the  bed  of 
the  creek  itself,  which  is  exceedingly  rough,  being  covered 
with  loose  rocks,  as  they  are  termed  in  the  West  and  South, 
or  large  stones,  as  we  should  term  them  at  the  East. 

Persons  should  never  travel  in  a  strange  country  after 


302         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

night;  so  says  one  who  has  a  hundred  times  violated  the 
precept  in  his  own  practice;  but  never  mind  that,  reader, 
"  do  as  I  say,  not  as  I  do,"  in  this  particular  at  least,  for  I 
have  run  many  a  fearful  risk  in  neglect  of  this  maxim, 
and  on  the  very  night  of  which  I  speak,  I  came  near 
running  another.  It  was  quite  dark  when  I  arrived  over 
against  Falmouth,  and  being  ignorant  that  it  lies  on  the 
Licking  river,  a  stream  deep  enough  to  float  a  steamboat, 
I  supposed  the  water  T  saw  between  me  and  the  town,  to 
be  a  continuation  of  the  creek,  in  whose  bed  I  had  been 
several  times  traveling  for  some  miles  back,  and  I  was 
about  to  drive  into  it;  but  as  it  looked  much  larger  than  it 
had  done,  I  concluded  that  it  would  be  safer  to  make 
inquiry  as  to  its  fordability,  which  I  did.  and  was  startled 
to  find  how  nearly  my  presumption  had  run  me  into 
danger. 

On  Saturday,  as  it  had  rained  very  hard  during  the 
night  previous,  and  the  road  was  extremely  hilly,  1  found 
it  as  much  as  I  could  do  to  travel  to  Cynthiana,  but 
twenty-two  miles,  and  though  I  stopped  not  to  bait  on  the 
way,  it  was  dark  when  I  got  there.  I  put  up  at  Webster's 
hotel,  as  1  knew  of  no  friend  to  our  faith  in  the  town. 
The  country  through  which  I  passed  since  leaving  Cin- 
cinnati, until  I  got  within  four  or  live  miles  of  Cynthiana, 
a  distance  of  nearly  sixty  miles,  is  very  uneven,  of  an 
indifferent  soil,  and  extremely  sparse  population;  it  is  an 
almost  unpeopled  solitude. 

But  from  the  point  I  have  specified,  the  character  of  the 
country  changes,  and  the  traveler  finds  himself  in  a 
terrestial  paradise;  it  equals  the  Miami  country  in  fertility, 
and  surpasses  it  in  beauty;  what  makes  its  aspect  the 
more  pleasing  is,  that  it  is  covered  with  so  luxuriant  a 
coating  of  blue  grass.  Cynthiana  is  an  old  town,  well 
paved,  and  compactly  built,  but  its  business  is  not  large, 
nor  is  it  much  of  a  thoroughfare  of  travel. 

There  is  an  incomparably  finer  taste  prevalent  through- 
out this  part  of  Kentucky,  than  is  any  where  to  be  found 
in  its  younger  sister,  save  in  the  Western  Reserve  por- 
tions of  it;  not  only  in  the  buildings  does  this  taste 
display  itself,  but  also  in  all  the  out-of-doors  arrangements 
— gardens,  enclosures,  shrubbery,  copses,  fields,  every 
thing. 

In  Ohio,  (not  the  portions  of  it  peopled  by  New  Eng- 
landers  or  New  Yorkers,  of  course,)  it  is  not  unusual   to 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER,  303 

■see  a  great  pile  of  bricks  and  mortar,  called  a  house,  stand- 
ing alone,  without  a  tree  or  shrub  to  ornament  or  shelter  it, 
and  in  itself  more  resembling  a  prison  than  a  dwelling;  with 
little  narrow  doors,  and  windows  so  diminutive  as  scarce- 
ly to  admit  any  daylight;  often  without  front  door-steps, 
or  cornice,  or  paint,  or  any  kind  of  ornamental  or  even 
convenient  appendage  ;  and  to  complete  its  chapter  of 
discomforts,  in  addition  to  a  smoky  chimney  place  within, 
it  is  annoyed  by  hogs  and  geese,  to  grunt,  squeak,  and 
■squall,  and  paddle  up  the  mire  without.  I  would  scarcely, 
methinks,  accept  of  immortality,  on  the  condition  of  its 
being  spent  in  such  a  rural  heaven  as  this;  it  would  puzzle 
even  poetry  itself,  which,  every  body  knows  is  licensed  to 
lie,  exempt  from  the  penalty  of  damnation — it  would  puzzle 
even  poetry  itself,  1  say,  to  make  such  habitations  tolera- 
ble to  men  of  taste  and  sensibility;  and  the  wonder  is, 
how  those  who  tenant  them  can  keep  from  hanging  them- 
selves in  such  conditions  of  the  weather  as  confine  them 
within  doors. 

I  arrived  at  Versailles  about  eleven  o'clock,  a.  m.,  on 
Sunday,  April  5th,  and  immediately^inquired  of  the  Inn- 
keeper if  he  could  acquaint  me  with  any  persons  of  my 
faith  in  the  place.  He  could  not.  1  had  with  me  the 
names  of  several  subscribers  to  the  Star,  whose  papers 
are  mailed  for  that  town,  but  on  inquiry,  I  found  they  all 
lived  a  number  of  miles  out.  The  person  named  as 
agent  for  that  paper,  lived  five  and  a  half  miles  in  the 
country.  I  deemed  it  best  to  drive  out  and  see  him,  sup- 
posing that  he  could  put  me  into  a  way  of  employing  my 
time  in  that  region  to  best  advantage.  On  my  arrival 
at  his  residence,  a  most  beautiful  plantation,  I  found  him 
absent  at  meeting,  but  his  mother  was  at  home.  The 
following  exact  account  of  my  reception,  will  give  the 
reader  some  idea  of  the  mortification  to  which  the  Uni- 
versalist  itinerant  is  liable,  from  the  bigotry  of  those  with 
whom  he  often  has  to  do. 

"  I  will  be  brief  with  you,  madam;  I  am  a  Universalisl 
preacher.  Your  son  is  an  agent  for  a  Universalist  paper, 
published  in  Cincinnati,  where  I  reside,  and  I  supposed 
him  a  suitable  person  to  call  on  for  information  connected 
with   my  business  in  these  parts." 

"I  knov*^  nothing  about  it,  sir;  I  don't  believe  your 
doctrine,  nor  do  I  think  my  son  reads  your  paper." 

"  Well,  madam,  I  have  no  expectation  of  finding  believ- 


304         EXPERIENCE,  LABOKS,  AND  TRAVELS 

ers  of  my  faith  in  all  I  meet  with.  I  have  come  a  long 
way  from  town  to  see  your  son;  you  will  not  object  to  my 
remaining  here  till  he  returns?  " 

"  No,  you  can  stay,  but  I've  no  opinion  of  a  preacher 
that  travels  on  the  Sabbath — >no  christian  wiii  do  it." 

"  Why,  as  to  that,  madam,  with  the  clergyman  who  is 
wholly  devoted  to  his  profession,  all  days  are  alike;  for  his 
whole  business  is  religion.  Now,  your  objection  would 
hold  good  against  me,  if  my  visit  was  one  of  mere  ])leasure, 
or  curiosity,  or  for  the  transaction  of  secular  business; 
but  as  it  is  strictly  relative  to  my  profession,  I  think,  that 
on  reflection,  you  will  withdraw  it.  You  must  not  be  too 
hard  on  a  poor  heretic,  madam." 

"  There  are  a  good  many  preachers  going  about  the 
country,  who  had  a  good  deal  better  be  at  the  plow  or 
some  other  business." 

"  And  do  you  include  me  among  those,  madam? " 

"  I  don't  know  anything  about  you,  sir.  I  never  saw  nor 
heard  of  you  before.  You  say  you  are  a  Universalist 
preacher,  but  I  don't  know  it." 

"True,  madam;  but  it  would  be  more  in  accordance 
with  charity  to  presume  in  my  favor,  since  you  know 
nothing  against  me?  Besides,  madam,  did  you  ever  tell  a 
preacher  of  one  of  the  popular  sects,  that  he  had  better  be 
at  the  plow? " 

"  I — hem — I  don't  know  but  what  I  have  done  so." 

"What!  and  under  your  own  roof  too,  madam?" 

"  I — hem — I  don't  know  but  what  I  have." 

"  And  how  did  he  take  it,  madam?  Did  he  think  it  very 
polite  and  christian-like  in  you  to  insult  him  thus  in  your 
own  house?" 

The  lady  here  figited  and  hemmed  somewhat  uneasily, 
and  at  length  told  me  snappishly  that  she  didn't  wish  any 
conversation  with  me ;  and,  as  1  was  quite  as  little  pleased 
with  her  spirit  as  she  was  with  my  faith,  I  took  up  a  paper, 
and  sat  out  of  doors,  perusing  it,  till  about  three  o'clock, 
when,  the  young  man  not  having  returned,  I  drove  back 
to  Versailles. 

I  delivered  but  one  discourse  there,  in  the  court-house. 
I  should  have  staid  to  deliver  two  or  three  others,  for 
there  were  many  who  seemed  sincerely  desirous  of  hear- 
ing for  themselves,  but  a  combination  of  circumstances 
acted  against  my  wishes. 

On  the  night  of  Tuesday,  7th,  I  preached  at  Nicholas- 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  305 

ville,  to  a  crowded  audience,  gotten  together  on  short 
notice;  and  the  expense  of  negro  services,  with  reference 
to  the  meeting,  amounted  to  something  over  two  dollars. 
Charges  are  higher  there  than  in  Ohio;  even  turnpike  tolls 
are,  in  some  cases,  fifty  per  cent.,  in  others,  one  hundred 
per  cent,  higher.  On  the  road  to  Versailles,  although  scarce- 
ly wider  than  a  private  lane,  twenty-five  cents  are  charged 
on  a  one-horse  buggy  for  every  five  miles.  I  have  often, 
when  plunging  and  floundering  in  the  common  roads, 
resolved  that  I  never  would  grumble  at  turnpike  tolls,  but 
when  they  come  on  me  at  this  exorbitant  rate,  I  am  only 
kept  from  breaking  through  my  resolution  by  the  reflec- 
tion that  grumbling  will  do  no  good. 


As  to  size,  Lexington  somewhat  surpassed  my  previous 
expectations,  but  as  to  beauty  it  fell  considerably  below 
them.  A  part  of  the  ground  on  which  it  stands  is  very 
rough  and  uneven;  several  portions  of  the  city  present  a 
mean  and  decayed  appearance ;  of  really  splendid  edifices, 
it  contains  but  few;  and,  taking  it  all  in  all,  there  is  a  too 
general  want  of  neatness  and  order  about  it  to  admit  of  its 
being  pronounced  a  handsome  place. 

The  deficiencies  of  the  city  itself,  however,  are  amply 
compensated  by  the  exquisitely  beautiful  character  of  the 
surrounding  country.  I  cannot  believe  that  it  is  surpassed 
by  any  region  of  equal  extent  in  the  United  States.  Its 
forests  are  magnificent;  and  it  is  every  where  finely  wa- 
tered by  springs,  from  which  large  ponds  are  formed,  by 
the  making  of  artificial  basins. 

I  passed  Henry  Clay's  plantation,  on  my  way  to  Colby- 
ville.  It  is  almost  within  sight  of  Lexington,  on  the  Rich- 
mond turnpike.  No  description  of  mine  would  do  justice 
to  the  fine  taste  displayed  in  its  cultivation  and  embellish- 
ments. At  the  gate  commences  a  line  of  various  forest 
trees,  which  sweeps  toward  and  beyond  the  rear  of  the 
residence,  in  a  nearly  semi-circular  form;  it  is  not  com- 
posed of  one  or  more  regular  rows,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
and  with  better  taste,  it  is  formed  of  trees  growing  so 
closely  and  promiscuously  together  as  to  give  it  the  ap- 
pearance of  nature's  own  work.  Shrubs  and  flowers  of 
different  varieties  intervene  among  the  trees,  and  along  in 
the  midst  of  them  runs  a  gravel  path,  which,  by  its  cool- 
ness and  seclusion,  must  be  a  fine  promenade  during  the 
sultriness  of  noon,  or  the  dews  of  evening.     I  should  have 


306         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

called  on  the  great  statesman,  had  he  been  at  home,  for, 
though  no  political  partizan,  my  heart  cannot  withhold  its 
homage  from  talents  which  have  elevated  their  possesssor 
from  a  state  of  pennyless  and  friendless  orphanage,  to  an 
honorable  and  imperishable  place  in  the  affections  and  his- 
tory of  his  country. 

I  delivered  two  discourses  in  the  Methodist  church  in 
Winchester;  one  in  Mount  Zion,  (Reformer's)  church, 
eight  miles  out;  one  in  the  Republican  church  at  Clintons- 
ville;  one  at  the  house  of  Dr.  Taylor. 

This  is  one  of  the  oldest  settlements  in  Kentucky. 
Some  of  the  plantations  have  been  in  cultivation  since  a 
time  when  not  a  house  stood  where  Cincinnati  now  stands; 
many  of  them  are  very  large.  I  passed  through  one,  be- 
longing to  a  Mr.  Cunningham,  which  comprises  four  thous- 
and acres,  all  under  cultivation.  I  was  delighted  with  the 
beauty  of  the  open  and  woodland  pastures,  and  the  numer- 
ousness  and  fineness  of  the  live  stock.  Indeed,  the  adapt- 
edness  of  this  country  to  grass,  constitutes  its  principal 
charm;  for  what  is  more  refreshing  to  the  eye,  than  to 
see  the  fields  and  woodlands  clothed  in  a  rich  and  mellow 
mantle  of  green ! 

I  returned  to  Millersburg,  and  thence  to  Carlisle,  which 
is  the  capital  of  Nicholas  county.  1  had  a  fine  congrega- 
tion there,  in  the  Court-house,  where  a  meeting  was 
arranged  for  me  by  Lyford  Marston. 

On  the  evenings  of  the  14th  and  15th,  I  again  preached 
at  Millersburg.  On  the  16th,  I  borrowed  a  horse  and  rode 
to  Poplar  Plains,  in  Fleming  county,  where  I  got  up  a 
meeting  the  same  evening  in  the  Methodist  church.  My 
way  to  the  Plains  was  quite  rugged;  for  several  miles  it 
run  along  Fox  Creek,  and  crossed  it  some  fifty  times;  it 
then  took  me  to  Slate  Creek,  which  it  several  times  crossed, 
at  wide  and  deep  fords;  at  length,  it  crossed  the  south  fork 
of  Licking  river,  at  the  mouth  of  Fox.  On  all  these 
streams,  on  the  Slate  especially,  there  are  broad  and  fer- 
tile bottom-lands. 

On  the  21st,  at  four  o'clock,  I  preached  at  the  house  of 
Captain  Blackwell;  from  thence,  on  the  22d,  I  passed  on  to 
Mr.  Fox's,  within  three  miles  of  Richmond,  where,  mauger 
the  darkness  and  storminess  of  the  night,  I  addressed  a 
pretty  good  and  very  attentive  audience.  On  the  way  I 
crossed  the  Kentucky  river,  and  was  much  gratified  with 
the  grandeur  of  its  scenery;  it  is  the  nearest  approach  to 


OF   A    T7NIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  307 

sublimity  of  any  I  have  witnessed  west  of  the  mountains; 
I  should  judge  the  bluffs  to  be  full  three  hundred  feet  in 
altitude;  to  ascend  to  the  summit  of  these  the  road  has  to 
wind  about  in  a  most  singular  manner. 

The  situation  of  most  of  the  towns  in  that  country  are 
very  charming,  and  many  of  the  private  residences  in 
them  are  extremely  neat.  There  is  a  much  more  prevalent 
taste  displayed,  than  in  the  Ohio  towns,  in  the  rearing  of 
ornamental  and  shade  trees;  these  give  to  the  villages  a 
beautifully  rural  aspect,  v/hich  is  infinitely  preferable  to 
the  nakedness  of  unsheltered  and  unshadowed  streets  and 
houses.  I  am  greatly  surprised  that  such  a  luxury,  both 
to  the  sight  and  feeling,  so  cheap  and  of  such  easy  attain- 
ment, should  in  any  case  be  neglected.  Of  the  towns  I 
have  seen  in  this  State,  Paris,  i  think,  is  decidedly  the 
most  handsome:  among  its  other  very  decent  public  build- 
ings, is  an  Episcopal  church,  which  is  an  exquisite  little 
structure.  "  Churches  of  them  air  sort,  stranger,^^  said  a 
man  of  whom  I  inquired  its  kind,  "  is  mighty  skearce  in  this 
country;  this  one  is  all-Jired  handsome  inside;  it  was  rared 
a  year  or  such  a  matter  afore  it  loas  done  fnished.^^ 


Some  situations  in  life  are  exceedingly  comfortable, 
and  some  again  are  exceedingly  not  so.  It  is  comfortable, 
for  instance,  for  one  to  sit  under  his  own  vine  and  apple- 
tree;  to  listen  to  the  hum  of  his  honey-making  bees,  and 
the  frolic  glee  of  his  rosy-cheeked  children,  and,  looking 
complacently  over  his  broad  acres,  for  which  he  holds  a 
good  and  clear  title,  in  fee  simple,  to  be  able  with  Alexan- 
der Selkirk,  to  exclaim — 

"  I  am  monarch  of  all  I  survey, 
My  right  there  is  none  to  dispute." 

Beyond  controversy  all  this  is  very  comfortable,  and  the 
wight  thus  blessed  has  small  temptation  either  to  drown 
himself,  or  to  go  sulky  and  supperless  to  bed. 

But  what  think  you,  reader,  of  being  up  to  your  knees 
in  a  mud-puddle,  with  your  horse  down  and  fast  in  the 
mire,  and  while  you  are  endeavoring  to  extricate  him  from 
his  gearing,  a  torrent  of  rain,  accompanied  by  thunder 
and  lightning,  is  pouring  down  on  you  from  above?  I 
trow  you  would  not  deem  this  very  comfortable.  Well, 
such  exactly  was  my  situation  on  Tuesday,  April  28th. 
About  an  hour  before,  a  most  vivid  flash  of  lightning  had 


308         EXPERIENCE,  LABOES,  AND    TRAVELS 

struck  a  tree  and  set  it  on  fire,  so  near  to  me  that  my 
horse  was  knocked  down,  and  my  eyes  so  utterly  blinded 
that  for  a  minute  or  more  I  was  unable  to  see  whether  or 
not  my  horse  was  killed.  He  proved  to  be  only  stunned, 
however,  and  soon  arose  and  proceeded  as  though  nothing 
had  happened. 

It  is  not  prudent,  I  know,  to  travel  in  such  a  state  of  the 
weather,  but  my  word  was  out  to  be  in  Springfield,  Tennes- 
see, on  the  following  Sunday,  and  full  one  hundred  and 
sixty  miles  lay  between  me  and  it;  1  resolved  to  perse- 
vere, therefore,  be  the  weather  what  it  may.  But  mud- 
puddles  are  no  respectors  of  engagements,  and  they  as 
little  respect  persons;  they  soil  a  parson's  broadcloth 
with  as  little  scruple  as  a  peasant's  home-spun;  and  the 
one  described,  brought  me  to  in  spite  of  my  teeth.  After 
disengaging  my  horse  from  the  carriage,  I  had  to  leave  the 
latter  sticking  in  the  mud;  and  tieing  the  former  to  a  fence 
by  the  road-side,  I  shouldered  my  trunk,  and  wading  knee 
deep  through  the  meadow  grounds  and  a  wheat  field,  1  at 
length  reached  a  house  about  an  eighth  of  a  mile  off,  wet 
to  the  skin,  and  completely  exhausted.  Never  surely  was 
one  of  the  "Lord's  annointed"  in  a  much  worse  plight! 

The  master  of  the  house  proved  to  be  a  Reformer,  and  a 
right  goqd  fellow,  to  boot;  as  soon  as  the  rain  had  in  some 
measure  abated,  which  was  not  however  till  within  an  hour 
of  night,  he  sent  his  negroes  with  his  oxen  and  a  good  pull- 
ing horse,  to  get  my  buggy  "  out  of  the  horrible  pit  and 
miry  clay,"  and  bring  it  under  the  shelter  of  his  barn.  The 
village  of  Perryville  was  in  sight  of  his  house.  It  having 
got  out  among  the  villagers  that  a  Universalist  preacher 
was  at  hand,  they  sent  word  to  me  that  the  Presbyterian 
church  would  be  at  my  service,  if  I  would  consent  to  occu- 
py it  that  evening.  Of  course  I  would  not  fail  to  improve 
an  opening  of  this  kind,  and,  despite  the  mud,  and  dark- 
ness, and  extreme  shortness  of  the  notice,  I  addressed,  I 
should  judge,  full  a  hundred  people. 

Amongst  them  were  four  clergymen,  two  Methodists  and 
two  Presbterians,  who  all  I  believe  took  notes  of  my  dis- 
course; so  soon  as  I  had  closed,  a  Methodist  and  a  Pres- 
byterian preacher  came  into  the  desk,  and  delivered  each 
an  harangue.  The  former  commenced  by  eulogizing  my 
ingenuity,  and  he  guessed  that,  like  himself,  I  jnust  be  a 
Yankee!  he  cautioned  them  against  being  seduced  by  the 
extreme  plausibility  of  my  arguments;  having  lived  among 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER,  309 

Universalists,  he  said,  for  a  considerable  part  of  his  life, 
he  had  become  aware  of  the  seductive  character  of  their 
style  of  preaching. 

The  Presbyterian  next  arose.  He  also  seemed  to  think 
that  the  best  way  to  operate  against  me  was,  first  to  com- 
mend my  appearance  and  manner,  and  then  denounce 
my  doctrine  for  by  that  course  he  would  get  people  to 
think  that  the  air  of  truth  which  the  latter  seemed  to 
wear,  was  altogether  owing  to  a  certain  smoothness  and 
tact  on  the  part  of  the  preacher. 

"  It  is  sometimes  the  case,  my  friends,"  said  he,  "  that  a 
person  presents  himself  before  the  public  under  very 
plausible  appearances;  his  tongue  will  be  as  smooth  as  oil, 
his  voice  soft  and  winning,  his  language  chaste  and  scholar- 
like, and  his  whole  bearing  such  as  becomes  the  Chris- 
tian profession;  and  after  all,  when  found  ^out,  he  has 
proven  to  be  to  the  very  opposite  of  what  he  seemed. 
Not  that  I  would  insinuate  that  the  stranger  is  a  man  of 
this  description,"  etc.,  etc. 

Now,  what  a  sly  and  malicious  mode  of  stabbing  is  this! 
Another  of  the  preachers  was  next  called  on  to  pray, 
which  he  did  for  full  thirty  minutes,  at  the  top  of  his 
voice;  and  most  earnestly  was  the  "poor  stranger"  inter- 
ceded for,  that  "  he  might  be  shown  the  error  of  his  way," 
and  like  Paul  of  old,  that  he  might  be  made  an  "  eminent 
instrument  in  building  up  the  faith  he  is  now  laboring 
to  destroy,"  etc.  Then  followed  a  hymn  in  full  chorus, 
and  the  meeting  was  dismissed,  taking  great  care  that 
no  opening  should  be  left  for  a  word  more  from  me.  It 
was  half  past  ten  o'clock  when  the  meeting  broke  up. 

Well,  my  mud-puddle  calamity,  together  with  the  im- 
passable state  of  the  creek  at  Pcrryville,  detained  me  two 
entire  days,  and  put  it  out  of  my  power  to  reach  Spring- 
field agreeably  to  appointment.  This  was  a  most  severe 
mortification  to  me.  I  determined  that  rather  than  disap- 
point, 1  would  leave  my  horse  and  get  to  Springfield  by 
stage;  but  neither  could  that  be  accomplished,  for  the 
high  waters  had  materially  broken  in  upon  the  stage  ar- 
rangements; I  therefore  had  no  alternative  but  to  proceed 
as  I  best  could  by  my  own  conveyance. 

From  Perryville,  I  pushed  forward  through  Lebanon  to 
New  Castle,  where  commences  a  short  graded  and  turn- 
piked  road  over  a  sort  of  mountain,  at  the  foot  of  which 
rolls  a  very  rapid  stream,  called  the  Rolling  Fork  of  Salt 


310         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

river.  I  made  thirty-four  miles  that  day,  April  30th.  On 
May  1st  I  made  thirty-six  miles,  crossing  Green  and  Little 
Barren  rivers,  which  are  six  miles  apart,  and  run,  both  of 
them,  in  very  deep  troughs.  This,  indeed,  is  common  to 
all  the  rivers  in  Kentucky,  they  have  cloven  passages  for 
themselves  of  a  startling  depth  through  beds  of  rock,  and 
hence,  Kentucky  is  the  only  Western  State  which  I  have 
visited,  that  aifords  scenery  of  a  grand  and  wild  character; 
for  the  western  country  is  very  deficient,  generally,  in 
bold  and  varied  scenery. 

In  crossing  Green  river,  I  had  another  mishap,  but  it 
did  not  very  seriously  incommode  me  :  the  rivers  had 
fallen  some  eight  or  ten  feet  in  twenty-four  hours,  and  the 
strip  of  bottom  on  which  I  was  landed,  having  been  so 
recently  submerged,  was  in  so  soft  a  state,  that  as  soon  as 
my  horse  stepped  off  the  boat  he  sunk  in  it  up  to  his  belly; 
it  was  with  extreme  difficulty  he  could  be  raised;  and  as 
to  my  carriage,  it  positively  took  the  ferryman,  a  large 
strong  man,  and  his  two  negroes,  full  twenty  minutes,  pull- 
ing and  prying  with  their  setting  poles,  before  they  could 
get  it  out.  With  the  exception  of  a  thorough  besmearing, 
however,  I  sustained  no  damage  from  the  affair;  but,  de- 
pend upon  it,  a  large  loaded  wagon  would  have  stood  a 
poor  chance  in  such  a  situation. 

On  May  2d,  I  reached  Bowling  Green,  a  handsome  and 
growing  town  on  the  Big  Barren  river. 

May  3.  Being  Sunday,  it  was  my  design  to  lie  by,  and 
deliver  some  sermons  at  Bowling  Green;  but  the  signs  of 
the  weather  indicated  a  coming  rain,  and  1  was  told  that 
the  road  between  that  place  and  Franklin  would  be  ren- 
dered almost  impassable  by  a  rain  for  several  days;  I 
therefore  deemed  it  best  to  push  forward  to  the  latter 
place,  which  was  only  distant  twenty  miles,  and  there  get 
up  a  meeting  at  night.  In  my  way  thither,  I  found  that 
the  bad  accounts  of  the  road  were  not  exaggerated:  it  had 
been  newly  plowed  and  scraped,  and  in  some  places  had 
received  the  first  layer  of  stone,  ever  and  anon  it  was 
fenced  up,  and  the  traveler  had  to  take  a  by-path  which 
fell  into  it  again. 

Every  body  who  has  traveled  this  sort  of  road,  knows 
that  the  difficulties  of  passing  over  it  with  a  light  carriage 
exceed  description.  I  had  proceeded  about  ten  miles, 
when  one  of  my  hind  wheels  slipt  up  to  its  axle  in  a 
rut,  and — oh,  reader,  have  you  patience  to  hear  me  detail 


OF   A   UNIVERSALIS!    PREACHER. 


311 


more  calamities — well,  then  my  axle-tree  snapped  short 
off  at  the  shoulder,  and  my  wheel  was  left  sticking  in  the 
mud.     Here  was  a  pretty  piece  of  business. 

What  added  to  the  difficulty  of  the  case  was,  that  the 
wind  was  blowing  an  absolute  gale  at  the  time,  full  in  my 
face,  and  a  few  big  drops  began  to  fall  as  harbingers  of  an 
impending  rain.  Not  a  soul  at  hand  to  aid  me.  1  turned 
my  carriage  around  with  its  back  to  the  wind,  and  button- 
ing down  its  curtains,  prepared  it  to  stand  the  storm  as 
best  it  could.  1  then,  with  my  horse,  and  carrying  my 
trunk  on  my  shoulder,  made  my  way  to  a  house  in  sight, 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  off.  1  again  had  the  good  for- 
tune to  find,  in  the  man  of  the  house,  one  who  was  disposed 
to  help  me;  he  immediately  got  his  axe,  and  went  back 
with  me  to  my  carriage,  where  we  worked  in  the  pouring 
rain  and  tempestuous  wind,  for  a  full  hour,  in  so  fasten- 
ing on  the  wheel  as  to  enable  the  horse  to  draw  it  to  his 
house;  we  accomplished  this  at  length,  and  I  put  up  with 
him  for  the  night. 

The  next  day  1  got  my  carriage  to  a  wheelwright's,  two 
miles  off,  where,  as  he  had  no  timber  suitable  for  a  new 
axle-tree,  I  got  the  blacksmith  in  his  establishment  to  sub- 
stitute an  end  piece  of  iron.  Thus  was  I  thrown  back  two 
days  more,  and  subjected  to  a  cost  of  five  dollars.  I  was 
not  idle,  however  ;  wherever  I  was,  or  under  whatever 
circumstances,  I  was  inculcating  "  the  glorious  gospel  of 
the  blessed  God."  The  smith  and  wheelwright  were 
Methodists;  nevertheless,  "  they  received  the  word  with 
all  readiness  of  mind,"  and  bought  a  copy  of  my  Pro  and 
Con,  in  order  to  get  a  full  and  fair  understanding  of  ihc 
matter. 

Well,  having  now  got  to  the  southern  limit  of  Ken- 
tucky, I  am  prepared  to  express  an  opinion  of  the  State, 
so  far  as  1  have  seen  it,  as  to  its  general  appearance,  soil, 
waters,  and  tillage.  On  all  these  heads  1  have  a  higher 
estimation  of  it,  after  seeing  it,  than  before.  I  am  quite 
sure  that  Ohio  cannot  boast  of  so  large  an  extent  of  rich 
and  well-lying  land;  neither,  I  think,  can  Indiana.  It  is, 
indeed,  an  exceedingly  fine  country;  finely  watered  withal, 
and  with  just  a  sufficient  quantity  of  stone  in  every  part 
to  answer  the  purposes  of  roads,  buildings,  and  fencing.  I 
never  saw  a  country  so  well  provided  for  in  this  respect. 
In  addition  to  these  advantages,  Kentucky  is  so  finely  sup- 
plied with  navigable  rivers  :  there  are  the  Tennessee,  the 


312         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

Cumberland,  Green,  Big  Barren,  and  Kentucky.  These 
are  now  navigable  for  steamboats;  the  Licking,  and  some 
others,  are  about  to  be  rendered  so  by  locks  and  dams. 

Her  common  roads  are  not  quite  so  bad  as  are  those  of 
her  western  sisters;  I  found,  after  some  experience,  that 
there  is  this  difference  between  her  mud-holes  and  theirs, 
viz :  that  hers,  in  general,  are  not  near  so  bad  as  they 
look  to  be;  whilst  theirs  are  nearly  always  worse;  to  a 
Kentucky  mud-hole  there  is  usually  a  bottom,  and  there 
may  also  be  to  those  in  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Mississippi, 
but  God  help  the  luckless  wight  whose  hard  fortune  it  is 
to  find  his  way  down  to  it. 


It  is  pleasant  after  toiling  long  through  heat  and  dust 
to  find  a  shady  arbor  by  the  way-side,  where  one  can  at 
once  both  rest  and  cool  his  weary  frame;  some  such  re- 
freshment did  I  experience  when  I  reached  my  point  of 
destination  in  Robertson  county,  Tennessee.  So  many 
untoward  events  had  befallen  me  by  the  way,  that  I  began 
to  think  there  was  a  fatality  opposed  to  my  ever  getting 
there ;  and  when  at  length  it  was  arrived  at,  I  was  ready 
to  infer  from  appearances,  that  the  object  of  the  journey 
would  scarcely  justify  the  pains  it  cost. 

I  found  the  friend  whose  written  application  had  induced 
the  visit,  to  be  living  as  literally  in  the  looods,  as  can  well 
be  conceived;  no  open  ground  being  visible  from  his  log 
domicil.  But  first  appearances  often  deceive  us,  some- 
times for  the  better,  sometimes  for  the  worse,  and  in  the 
present  instance,  the  former  proved  the  case,  to  an  extent 
that  surprised  and  delighted  me. 

It  was  on  May  6th  that  I  reached  Mr.  Arthur  Wood- 
ward's, and  on  that  same  night,  and  in  that  same  log 
domicil,  I  delivered  my  first  sermon  in  Middle  Tennessee. 
It  would  have  astonished  you,  reader,  to  have  seen. how 
the  good  people  did  flock  out;  Where  can  they  have  come 
from?  you  would  have  exclaimed,  for  trees  are  far  more 
plentiful  than  folks  in  that  country.  Nevertheless,  indoors 
was  filled  squeezing  full  with  women,  and  an  out-of-doors 
arrangement  of  benches  under  the  open  sky,  was  closely 
occupied  by  men.  I  took  my  stand  in  the  door-way  be- 
ween,  and  thus  preached  for  the  first  time  in  Middle 
Tennessee. 

On  the  next  night  I  was  to  have  preached  at  Cross 
Plains,  seven  miles  from  Mr.  W.'s,  but  was  prevented  by 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  313 

the  severest  thunder-storm  I  ever  witnessed.  I  postponed 
it  therefore  until  the  night  succeeding;  but  then  another 
obstacle  occurred.  The  church  (Presbyterian)  in  which 
I  was  to  preach,  was  pre-engaged  for  that  night  by  a  min- 
ister of  that  sect;  a  visiting  minister  too,  and  yet,  will  you 
believe  it,  reader,  he  actually  had  the  liberality  to  forego 
his  right,  and  attended  as  an  auditor,  as  did  also  the  pas- 
tor of  the  church,  and  a  Meihodist  circuit  preacher.  I 
preached  there  again  on  the  next  day,  Saturday,  at  eleven 
o'clock,  and  at  night,  and  these  clergymen  attended  all  my 
meetings.  We  rarely  meet  with  such  cases  of  liberality 
among  Presbyterian  preachers  at  the  North. 
^  On  Sunday  I  preached  twice  in  a  large  Baptist  church, 
full  ten  miles  from  the  Plains,  yet,  full  half  the  men  of 
the  village  were  the  re, and  an  immense  multitude  besides, 
made  up  of  all  religions.  Large  as  the  house  was,  it  could 
not  contain  the  whites  alone.  Not  one  in  that  large  crowd 
had  ever  before  heard  a  Universalist  preacher. 

On  Monday  night  I  went  to  Springfield,  the  county  seat, 
and  preached  in  the  Methodist  church  to  a  very  large 
audience,  including  several  preachers.  I  also  preached 
in  the  same  house  next  day  at  two  o'clock,  and  at  night. 
A  female  school,  held  in  the  church,  was  suspended  for 
my  two  o'clock  meeting.  I  was  sorry  for  that,  for  religion 
ought  not  to  interfere  with  the  concerns  of  the  six  days 
allotted  to  labor. 

On  Wednesday,  Thursday,  and  Friday  nights,  I  dis- 
coursed in  as  many  different  neighborhoods,  to  crowded 
assemblies;  always  crowded,  rooms  and  piazzas  full,  when 
private  houses  were  thus  used.  At  eleven  o'clock,  and  at 
night,  on  Saturday,  T  preached  at  the  Sulphur  Springs 
Hotel,  to  a  large  and  interesting  company.  This  is  a 
celebrated  watering  place,  whither  resort,  in  the  summer, 
numerous  individuals  and  families  for  purposes  of  health 
and  pleasantness.  It  is  a  delightful  spot,  comfortably  and 
tastefully  arranged  for  the  accommodation  of.  guests,  and 
withal,  furnished  by  nature  with  some  scenes  of  as  wild 
and  secluded  a  description  as  ever  poet  could  desire.  Gen- 
eral Jackson  and  his  wife  spent  the  summer  preceding 
his  Presidency  at  this  place. 

v'^'unday,   May    17th,  was  the  last  day  of  my  tarry  in 

Robertson  county;  and  oh!  what  a  congregation  assembled 

at  the  Cross  Plains.     The  meeting-house  would   not  have 

contained  the  half  of  them,  the   meeting  therefore  was 

SI 


314         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

held  in  a  building  adjoining,  which  was  erected  for  camp- 
meeting  purposes;  it  is  very  large,  open  at  the  sides,  and 
seated  to  contain  full  a  thousand  people;  on  each  hand  are 
a  number  of  little  wooden  structures  which  are  used  on 
such  occasions  instead  of  tents.  They  go  in  strongly  for 
this  kind  of  meetings  in  the  South,  all  denominations;  the 
Methodists  have  not  a  monopoly  of  them,  as  at  the  North; 
in  fact  camp-meetings  originated  with  the  Presbyterians  of 
this  country,  and  since  they  have  proven  such  a  tremend- 
ous proselyte-making  machine,  it  must  be  a  source  of 
occasional  regret  to  them,  that  they  had  not  the  foresight 
to  secure  a  patent  for  the  article. 

This  was  the  Presbyterian  minister's  day,  in  course,  for 
preaching  at  this  place,  but  he  gave  way  to  me.  Some 
three  or  four  Presbyterian  ministers  attended  my  forenoon^ 
discourse,  and  some  seven  or  eight  my  discourse  at  four 
o'clock.  They  had  come  thus  far  on  their  way  to  a  Gene- 
ral Assembly  of  their  church.  One  of  them  preached  at 
night,  and,  in  a  part  of  his  discourse  assailed  some  of  my 
positions  of  the  afternoon;  this  he  did  with  no  avowed  re- 
ference to  my  discourses,  but  it  was  very  evident  to  all, 
nevertheless,  there  was  such  reference;  especially  as  he 
had  been  seen  to  take  notes  during  my  sermon.  1  there- 
fore felt  it  incumbent  upon  me  to  defend  myself  as  soon  as 
he  had  concluded  his  meeting;  my  apology  to  the  congre- 
gation for  the  intrusion,  was,  that  I  was  but  an  occasional 
visitant,  and  might  not  soon  be  in  the  parts  again,  whilst  my 
opponents  were  always  with  them;  they  would  have  very 
frequent  opportunities  of  hearing  my  faith  assailed,  and  but 
very  few  of  hearing  it  defended.  I  therefore  took  up  each 
point  in  its  order,  and  briefly  replied  to  it.  The  preache? 
had  very  strenuously  insisted  that  the  sinner  could  not  en- 
joy heaven,  if  even  admitted  there,  and  that  therefore  God 
would  act  mercifully  in  sending  him  to  hell!  I  showed 
that,  according  to  that  logic,  the  preacher  himself  had  no 
chance  for  heaven,  as  he  also  is  a  sinner,  and  that  God, 
in  mercy  to  him,  ought  to  send  him  to  hell  also. 

"  Why,"  1  asked,  "  can  I  not  enjoy  myself  in  heaven,  if 
the  preacher  can?  We  look  so  nearly  alike,  and  have  so 
many  attributes  in  common,  that  if  he  can  manage  to  find 
<5omfort  there,  1  think  I  also  can." 

In  his  rejoinder,  which  was  very  brief,  and  as  weak  as 
brief,  he  charged  me  with  personal  discourtesy  toward 
him,  inasmuch  as  I  had  been  permitted  to  occupy  their 


OF   A   UNIVEUSALIST   PREACHER. 

'cAurch  at  my  pleasure;  had  had  the  attendance  of  their 
preachers  from  time  to  time;  and  had  in  no  case  been 
opposed  and  questioned.  Now  I  had  forseen  that  my 
defence  would  lay  me  open  to  this  charge,  and  I  had  so 
introduced  my  remarks  on  his  sermon  as  to  give,  as  I 
sincerely  believe,  no  real  ground  of  complaint  on  the 
icore  of  discourtesy.  1  had  stated  that  I  took  no  excep- 
tions to  his  personal  course  in  his  attack,  and  that,  how- 
ever strongly  he  had  preached  his  own  views,  or  against 
mine,  in  general,  I  would  have  said  nothing  in  reply,  as  I 
fully  accorded  his  right  to  preach  his  own  doctrines  in  his 
own  church,  without  interruption;  but  that  having  referr- 
ed in  his  sermon  to  my  positions  in  particular,  he  had  lain 
me  under  an  imperious  obligation  to  defend  them. 

And  such,  reader,  1  assure  you,  was  the  real  state  of  the 
f^-ase.  You  know  how  it  would  have  been  represented  over 
the  country,  had  I  allowed  my  positions  to  be  publicly  at- 
tacked in  my  presence,  and  had  shrunk  from  their  de- 
fence. Madam  Rumor,  with  her  hundred  tongues,  would 
have  reported  me  as  a  poltroon,  and  my  doctrines  as  un- 
tenable, all  over  the  land.  This  is  the  only  circumstance 
which  occurred  during  my  stay  in  Robertson  county,  to 
mar  the  pleasantness  of  my  recollections  of  the  treatment 
I  received  from  the  Orthodox  denominations  there.  I 
much  doubt  whether  there  is  a  chapter  in  Universalist 
history,  ancient,  or  modern,  which  in  this  respect,  affords 
as  much  matter  for  grateful  feeling  to  every  liberal  and 
christian  heart,  as  does  this. 


In  Robertson  county,  amongst  numerous  cordial  friends, 
and  under  the  influence  of  the  most  kind  and  liberal  treat- 
ment, I  recovered  the  wonted  tone  of  my  spirits,  which  the 
many  reverses  I  hal  experienced  were  well  adapted  to 
depress.  Ah!  well  a-day!  life  at  best,  is  a  continuous  al- 
ternation of  cloud  and  sunshine,  and  such,  also,  had  my 
journey  proven.  Now,  thought  I,  as  I  was  driving  from 
Robertson  county  for  Nashville,  on  the  10th  instant, 
I  have  just  got  into  the  sunny  part  of  my  rambles;  no 
more  mishaps  from  henceforth;  no  impassable  roads,  nor 
detentions  by  high  water;  no,  that  part  of  the  business  is 
over;  all  to  come  is  pleasantness  and  sunshine.  I  was 
ax'oused  out  of  this  revery  by  a  crash,  and,  looking  out  foy 
the  cause,  1  found  that  a  tree,  which  leaned  over  the  nar- 
row road  I  was  traveling,  had  very  badly  crushed  my  car^ 


316         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

riage  topi  Thus  it  is  that  "disappointment  waits  on  hope's 
career.' ' 

At  Nashville,  a  Universalist  in  faith,  though  for  lack  of 
co-laborers  in  the  place,  a  member  of  the  Reformed 
Baptist  society,  pressed  me  to  shift  my  quarters  from 
the  Hotel  to  his  residence,  and  applied  for  and  obtained 
for  me  the  use  of  the  Campbellite  church,  which  is  a 
spacious  and  handsome  building.  I  preached  in  it  three 
successive  nights,  to  moderately  good  audiences;  only 
moderately  good,  for  bui  very  limited  means  had  been 
used  for  notifying  the  public  of  what  was  going  on; 
nevertheless  1  should  judge  the  number  of  hearers  to 
have  exceeded  a  hundred  each  night;  in  those  who  did  at- 
tend a  considerable  and  very  favorable  interest  seemed  to 
be  awakened. 

Nashville  can  boast  of  many  elegant  residences,  but  the 
general  state  of  its  streets  is  far  from  good,  and  it  is  desti- 
tute of  tasteful  suburban  establishments:  the  skirts  of  the 
city  are  rude  and  unsightly:  they  afford  no  .shady  walks 
nor  pleasing  views,  and  from  their  general  aspect  one 
would  infer  that  the  city  was  of  much  more  recent  origin 
than  it  is.     It  is  older  than  Cincinnati. 

On  Sunday,  24th,  I  preached  at  the  dwelling  of  John 
Davis,  who  is  an  old  and  respectable  resident  in  the  coun- 
try, and  tor  many  years  was  County  Surveyor.  The  audi- 
ence was  large  and  respectable:  the  meeting  was  to  have 
been  in  a  grove,  but  the  day  proved  showery. 

On  the  26th,  1  bent  my  course  toward  Perry  county,  in 
a  south-western  direction  from  Nashville,  and  1  was,  on  the 
evening  of  the  twenty-seventh,  but  thirty  miles  on  my 
way:  the  country  is  a  perfect  wilderness.  I  traveled  some 
thirty  miles,  seeing  not  a  house  for  the  last  eighteen  or 
twenty  of  them,  and  for  a  part  of  the  time  in  an  absolute 
deluge  of  rain,  accompanied  by  severe  thunder  and  light- 
ning, and  over  roads  which  required  all  my  limited  skill 
in  driving  to  avoid  upsetting.  At  the  end  of  the  day  1 
found  myself  about  fifteen  miles  from  where  I  started  in 
the  morning;  although  I  had  certainly  used  more  than  oi*- 
dinary  care  in  selecting  my  way,  sometiii  es  stopping  for 
full  ten  minutes  at  a  fork  or  crossing,  to  deliberate  as  ta 
whicii  was  probably  niy  road.  But  what  has  one  to  do  in 
such  a  perplexity,  when  there  was  nothing  for  miles  on 
miles  to  be  seen,  of  which  to  make  inquiries,  but  black- 
oak  trees?    An  interminable  wilderness  of  black-oaks  I    1 


OF  A    UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  317 

stopped  over  the  night  at  a  little  village  called  Vernon:  I 
shall  make  no  attempt  to  describe  the  tavern;  God  has  not 
endowed  me  with  descriptive  powers  at  all  adequate  to  the 
task.  Gentle  reader,  thou  mightest  travel  thirty  miles  in 
that  country  without  seeing  a  pane  of  glass,  and  as  to 
paint,  or  plaster,  they  are  luxuries  not  even  to  be  thought 
of. 

I  am  now,  says  my  diary  of  that  date, — let  me  see, 
where  am  I — in  truth  I  have  not  asked  the  man's  name 
at  whose  house  I  am.  It  is  on  the  banks  of  Duck  river, 
however;  and  said  river  is  swollen  beyond  a  fordable 
depth,  nor  is  there  any  ferry  at  this  place,  nor  any  other 
in  which  I  can  obtain  egress  from  here;  for  I  have  a  river 
before  me,  and  another  behind  me;  the  latter  I  crossed  at 
seven  different  fordings  this  morning,  and  it  has  been 
rising  ever  since.  How  I  am  to  get  from  here,  or  when,  I 
have  not  exactly  found  out — yes  I  have,  it  is  just  deter- 
mined ;  I  am  to  give  my  host  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  to 
get  my  carriage  over,  and  he  has  determined  to  take  it 
apart,  and,  making  two  loads  of  it,  float  it  over  on  a  canoe. 

Well,  1  must  now  go  to  work  and  take  out  my  books  and 
other  plunder,  preparatory  to  this  experiment,  for  the 
canoe  is  but  a  fragile  thing,  and  should  there  occur  a  cap- 
size, the  less  there  goes  to  the  bottom  the  better. 

28th.  My  carriage  is  safely  over,  thank  God!  and  now 
my  horse  is  to  be  swum,  and  myself  and  plunder  to  be 
laken  after  him  in  a  canoe,  and  then  I  have  the  day  be- 
fore me  to  get  to  Perryville  in,  about  thirty-five  miles, 
through,  they  tell  me,  an  extremely  broken  and  desolate 
region;  and  withal,  and  what  I  most  dread,  another  large 
stream  is  to  be  passed  in  the  route,  on  which  also  there  is 
no  ferry;  and  there  1  am  likely  to  be  again  brought  to  a 
halt.  Heigh,  ho!  If  ever  1  am  caught  driving  a  carriage 
into  this  country  again — why,  it  will  be  the  second  time, 
that's  all. 

"A  large  portion  of  the  inhabitants  in  this  country  are 
originally  from  North  Carolina — that  is  the  poorest  of  the 
States  on  the  eastern  sea-board,  1  believe;  very  much  of 
it  is  a  sandy  waste,  dotted  over  with  scrub  pines.  To  the 
emigrants  from  such  a  country  this  may  seem  a  paradise, 
for  aught  I  know;  and,  in  truth,  there  is  much  fine  land 
in  Tennessee,  but  it  is,  comparatively,  but  a  very  small 
portion  of  the  State  that  is  thus  fine,  and  even  it  is  mostly 
rocky  and  uneven. 


318         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

Extremely  little  attention  is  given  in  this  country  to 
elegant  improvement;  one  scarcely  ever  sees  a  brick  build- 
ing out  of  the  towns,  rarely  even  a  painted  or  framed 
one;  they  are  mostly  built  of  hewn  logs,  without  daubing, 
white-washing,  or  even  glazing;  the  people,  both  while 
and  black,  seem  to  take  the  world  most  marvelously  easy; 
they  are  not  affected  by  the  cotton  mania  as  in  the  States 
farther  south;  and  the  thirst  for  gain  is,  therefore,  less 
inordinate. 

The  negroes  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky,  are  actually 
the  happiest  part  of  the  community;  one  hears  them  whis- 
tling and  singing  in  every  direction,  and  they  seem 
to  have  an  abundance  of  leisure;  they  are,  also,  at  ver)^ 
little  pains  to  restrain  their  conversation  or  bearing  in  the 
presence  of  the  whites.  "By  de  debil,  Saml"  I  heard 
one  of  them  say  to  another,  in  Lexington  Kentucky,  "fo" 
a  nigger,  if  you  is'nt  de  meanest  man  I  eber  did  see; 
wheneber  I  meet  a  nigger  I  spec  to  find  a  genneman;  but, 
by  golly  1  if  you  is'nt  as  mean  as  a  white  man." 

It  would  have  done  you  good,  reader,  to  have  heard  the 
hearty  laugh  with  which  this  speech  was  responded  to  by 
the  party  addressed,  for  negroes  are  very  prompt  to  ap- 
plaud such  displays  of  flippancy  by  those  of  their  own 
color.  He  fairly  awakened  the  evenins^  echoes  with  hi? 
"Te-hah!  Te-hahl  Te-hah!  hah  I  hah!Te-hahl  Dat  beats 
de  debil  out,  by  golly!  Te-hahl" 

My  readers,  I  hope,  will  not  interpret  this  testimony 
concerning  the'  treatment  of  negroes  as  an  apology  for 
slavery ;  1  consent  not  to  being  considered  as  its  apologist. 
With  Sterne.  I  can  truly  and  sincerely  say  of  it,  "Still  sla 
very,  disguise  thee  as  we  may,  still  thou  art  a  bitter 
draught."  Yet,  as  the  slave-holders  have  been  much 
belied  on  this  point,  I  can  do  no  less,  in  justice,  than  to 
record  the  evidences  of  my  own  eyes  and  ears. 

This  is  May  3Uth,  my  birth-day  too,  and  a  happy  day 
with  me  for  other  reasons,  for  I  am  safely  arrived  in  Perry 
county,  and  am  comfortably  quartered  with  our  respecta- 
ble friend,  Dr.  Harris.  Appointments  are  flying  through 
the  country  for  meetings  for  me  in  all  directions,  and  the 
prospect  is  that  I  shall  have  a  good  time  here;  another 
slip  of  sunshine  after  a  dark  cloud;  and  that  my  good  na- 
tured  readers  may  the  more  fully  sympathize  in  my  joy,  I 
will  rehearse  to  them  something  of  my  experience  during 
the  past  two  days. 


...  ;  OF   A   UNIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  3^W 

On  the  28th,  as  above  stated,  1  was  on  Duck  river,  and 
the  cost  to  me  of  getting  over  it,  in  money  and  other 
things,  was  actually  about  six  dollars!  1  then  had  Buffalo 
creek  on  my  route  some  ten  miles  before  me;  no  descrip- 
tion can  possibly  exaggerate  the  ruggedness  and  desolatioD 
of  the  road  intermediate;  unpeopled  hills,  covered  with 
prostrate  trees,  and  whose  steep  declivities  were  scooped 
into  gullies  by  recent  torrents;  narrow  vallies,  the  way 
through  which,  for  the  same  cause,  was  choaked  up  with 
impassable  barriers  of  trees,  brush,  and  heaps  of  loose 
gravel;  ever  and  anon  the  path  was  suddenly  turned,  to 
avoid  these  obstacles,  and  these  abrupt  deviations  were  so 
blind  as  to  bewilder  the  traveler  almost  inextricably;  my 
own  carriage  made  the  first  wheel-tracks  on  these  new 
paths.  I  sometimes  walked  about  for  several  minutes  en- ' 
deavoring  to  find  a  practicable  way  through,  for  my  horse 
and  vehicle. 

Well,  at  this  rate  1  was  from  seven  in  the  morning  till 
six  in  the  evening,  in  getting  over  the  distance  to  Buffalo 
creek.  Happily,  a  ferry  is  kept  thereon  within  a  mile  or 
less  of  a  little  town  called  Beardstown.  Arrived  over 
against  the  ferry,  I  bawled  my  throat  sore  before  I  got  a 
response.  I  was  at  length  answered  by  some  children,  who 
informed  me  that  their  "  pap  and  mam"  were  gone  to  see 
some  sick  people  about  three  miles  off",  aad  that  there  was 
no  one  left  to  set  me  across.  Here  was  another  agreeable 
incident.  I  had  no  notion  of  going  back  two  or  three  miles 
to  find  entertainment  during  the  night;  quite  as  little  had 
1  for  lodging  in  a  marshy  woods,  exposed  to  hoards  of 
mosquitoes;  1  therefore  scolded  the  poor  children  for  al- 
lowing their  "pap"  to  neglect  his  business,  which  gave 
me  vast  satisfaction;  and  I  then  despatched  them  to  the 
little  town  to  get  some  one  who  could  set  me  over. 

It  was  after  sun-down  when  they  returned,  with  the 
word  that  they  could  find  no  one  who  would  consent  to  do 
so.  1  therefore  turned  about,  and  drove  to  the  point  over 
against  the  town,  with  the  purpose  of  leaving  my  car- 
riage there,  since  1  could  do  no  better,  and  swimming  my 
horse  over  alone.  When  arrived  at  the  spot,  I  hailed  a 
man  I  saw  on  the  opposite  shore,  and  inquired  of  him  my; 
best  way  over.  To  my  great  surprise  he  answered  me 
very  angrily,  "You  may  go  to  hell,  there's  where  you 
ought  to  go.'' 

Affecting  an  utter  unconsciousness  of  his  wrath,  and  the 


320        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

exact  purport  of  his  reply,  I  asked  him,  "  Is  the  place  you 
speak  of,  sir,  on  this  side  the  stream,  or  the  other?  "At  any 
rate,"  I  added,  "  it  is  now  too  near  night  for  me  to  get 
there,  except  it  is  close  at  hand." 

The  ludicrousness  of  this  answer,  with  the  grave  air  in 
which  it  was  rendered,  cooled  down  his  wrath  at  once  by 
exciting  his  mirthfulness,  and  he  told  me  he  had  been  to 
the  ferry  for  the  purpose  of  setting  me  across;  that  he 
had  arrived  thither  in  a  minute  after  I  had  left,  and  had 
hallooed  with  all  his  might  to  bring  me  back,  and  suppos- 
ed I  must  have  heard  him,  as  he  could  plainly  hear  my 
carriage. 

After  apologizing  to  him,  and  remarking  that  the  rattling 
of  my  carriage  must  have  prevented  my  hearing  him,  he 
consented  to  go  back,  which  I  also  did,  and  after  consider- 
able trouble  and  danger — for  upon  my  word  there  ivas  ex- 
treme danger  in  getting  off  of  a  very  abrupt  and  crumb- 
ling bank  into  the  boat — I  got  safely  over,  and  found  quar- 
ters at  a  farm-house  for  the  night.  Thus  passed  May 
28th. 

On  the  30th,  I  resumed  my  journey  toward  Perryville, 
which  was  still  sixteen  miles  ahead,  and  the  remaining  part 
of  the  road,  of  the  same  broken  and  difficult  character  as 
before  described.  At  two  p.  m.  I  reached  Perryville,  which 
is  handsomely  situated  on  Tennessee  river,  and  is  the 
shire  town  of  Perry  county.  It  is  but  a  very  small  place, 
however,  although  a  shipping  point  for  a  wide  scope  of 
country.  The  Tennessee  is  a  noble  stream,  wider  I 
should  think,  than  the  Ohio  at  Cincinnati;  the  country 
bordering  it,  though,  is  mostly  very  poor,  the  soil  being 
very  shallow,  on  a  basis  of  coarse  red  gravel. 


It  was  my  ill-chance  to  fall  upon  a  route  to  Perry  county 
which  is  never  traveled  with  vehicles;  one,  indeed,  which 
the  inhabitants  are  at  no  pains  to  keep  open;  and  this 
circumstance,  in  conjunction  with  an  unusually  stormy 
season,  subjected  me  and  my  horse  to  a  very  hard  experi- 
ence; he  however,  happy  brute,  took  his  troubles  very 
philosophically;  the  time  lost  to  me  was  clear  gain  to  him; 
for  whenever  I  was  brought  to  a  stop  by  the  perplexities 
and  obstructions  arising  from  fallen  timber  and  diverging 
paths,  he  would  fall  to  upon  the  grass  and  oak  leaves 
within  his  reach,  with  as  good  a  will  as  though  nothing 
was  the  matter.     Well,  it  was  really  a  source  of  satisfac- 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  321 

tion  to  me  that  the  poor  fellow  could  take  matters  so  easily, 
for  I  often  felt  as  much  c-incern  on  his  account  as  on  my 
own.  The  consequence  of  this  christian-like  endurance 
of  his  misfortunes  was,  that  Davy  looked  every  whit  as 
well,  after  a  travel  of  near  seven  hundred  miles,  as  when 
1  led  him  out  of  his  stable  in  Cincinnati. 

To  the  simple  inhabitants  of  these  sparsely  peopled  soli- 
tudes, a  pleasure  carriage  is  almost  a  phenom.enon;  it  was 
amusing  to  see  how  they  gathered  around  it  when  I  stop- 
ped at  a  little  village,  and  to  hear  their  conjectures  as  to 
the  calling  of  its  owner,  and  his  object  in  passing  through 
their  parts.  "A  Mississippi  or  Alabama  merchant,  I  guess," 
one  would  remark.  "  Perhaps  a  member  on  his  way  from 
Washington,"  would  suggest  another.  "  More  likely  a 
Northerner,  on  a  collecting  tour,"  would  be  the  judgment 
of  a  third.  Now  it  did  not  exactly  suit  me  to  be  regarded 
in  either  of  these  characters,  because  I  might  be  presumed 
to  have  money  enough  about  me  to  repay  the  trouble  of 
whizzing  a  bullet  through  my  body,  or  cutting  my  throat, 
and  in  that  frightful  wilderness  such  a  thing  might  be  done 
without  any  very  great  risk  of  detection.  I  would  not  be 
understood  as  insinuating  that  there  was  any  actual  danger 
of  the  kind  to  be  apprehended  ;  although  the  man  who 
ferried  me  over  Duck  river,  and  with  whom  I  tarried  all 
night,  told  me  some  frightful  stories  to  that  effect. 

I  preached  numerous  discourses  in  different  neighbor- 
hoods about  Perry ville,  and  two  in  the  Court-house  of  that 
village.  On  the  5th  the  congregation  were  most  immi- 
nently endangered  by  a  storm  which  blew  up  just  as  I  had 
got  through  prayer.  The  house  was  a  mere  pile  of  round 
logs,  with  openings  between  nearly  as  wide  as  the  logs 
themselves;  such  are  all  the  meeting-houses  in  that  coun- 
try; it  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  forest.  The  storm  which 
arose  was  one  of  wind,  lightning,  and  hail;  the  cloud  was 
so  dark  and  angry  in  its  aspect,  that  I  perceived  every 
countenance  to  wear  an  expression  of  alarm  ;  for  a  half 
hour  or  more  we  sat  in  silence;  during  which  I  could  not 
distinguish  a  letter  in  a  large  Bible  before  me;  a  tree  was 
blown  down  near  the  house,  which  much  startled  the  peo- 
ple by  its  crash.  I  confess  that  I  felt  a  fearful  responsi- 
bility resting  on  me  in  having  been  the  occasion  of  so 
many  people  being  brought  together  in  so  dangerous  a 
situation.     Happily  the  storm  passed  harmlessly  over,  and 


322         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

1  arose  and  preached  a  sermon.  I  have  since  learned  that 
the  storm  did  a  great  deal  of  injury  elsewhere. 

On  Saturday,  at  two  o'clock,  I  preached  at  the  county 
seat.  On  Sunday,  at  eleven  o'clock,  in  Mount  Zion  (Metho- 
dist) church,  and  at  four  o'clock  at  Dr.  Harris'.  I  had  the 
presence  of  two  Methodist  preachers  at  Mount  Zion,  who 
had  been  chiefly  instrumental  in  procuring  me  the  use  of 
the  church.* 

In  Perry  county,  as  elsewhere,  the  interest  visibly  in- 
creased on  the  part  of  the  people  as  they  heard  the  more 
of  the  doctrine;  there  were  quite  a  number  of  Universal- 
ists  in  the  county,  male  and  female,  who  shrink  not  from 
openly  avowing  it;  among  them  was  a  Colonel  B.,  for  sev- 
eral years  a  member  of  the  State  Senate;  a  very  primi- 
tive and  interesting  character — a  second  edition  of  Davy 
Crockett.  He  lived  in  an  open  log  cabin;  has  fought  In- 
dians, trapped  plenty  of  bears  and  coons,  and  hunted  lots 
of  foxes  in  his  time;  he  once  lived  forty-eight  miles  from 
any  white  inhabitant,  and  depended  on  his  rifle  for  his  sub- 
sistence. By  the  way,  Crockett,  whatever  we  at  the  North- 
may  think  of  him,  was  a  genuine  type  of  the  people  he 
represented. 

Some  persons  had  attended  my  Sunday  meeting  from  a 
distance  of  ten  miles,  on  my  way  to  Jackson :  at  their  re- 
quest I  authorized  a  meeting  to  be  appomted  for  four 
o^clock  on  Monday,  at  Mr.  Walker's,  who  kept  a  house  for 
the  entertainm.ent  of  travelers.  The  congregation  was 
large,  despite  the  brevity  of  the  notice.  Next  day,  con- 
tinuing on  toward  Jackson,  1  stopped  about  one  o'clock  at 
a  farmer's  house  to  bait  my  horse.  As  is  my  invariable 
custom,  I  soon  let  my  profession  be  known;  this  led  to  a 
whispered  consultation  amongst  the  male  members  of  the 
family,  and  to  my  being  asked  at  length,  whether  I  would 
consent  to  stop  and  preach  in  their  meeting  house  that 
night.  They  were  Methodists.  I  told  them  that  preaching 
was  my  only  business,  and  that  I  was  ever  ready  to  attend 
to  it  where  a  congregation  could  be  convened.  "  But," 
said  I,  "  your  neighborhood  seems  to  be  thin,  and  the  time 
is  short;  how  will  you  give  the  notice?"  "  We'll  manage 
that,"  was  the  answer,  "  say  you'll  preach,  and  we'll  send 


*  One  of  these,  M.  P.  Fisher,  of  whom  I  then  received  an  ex- 
ceedingly good  account,  has  since  become  a  proclaimer  of  universal 
salvation. 


OF    A    UNIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  323^ 

out  our  boys  in  different  directions  to  give  the  notice;  you 
may  rely  on  a  congregation." 

I  consented,  of  course,  and  the  boys  were  soon  mounted 
and  despatched  through  the  neighborhood :  they  returned 
with  the  report  that  all  the  people  seemed  glad  that  I  had 
been  induced  to  stop;  but  one  of  them  was  the  bearer  of 
a  note  from  their  preacher,  which  read  as  follows  :  "  Br. 
Sherrod — this  is  to  inform  you  that  I  am  not  willing  the 
Universal ist  should  preach  in  our  church — yours,  etc." 
Mr.  Sherrod  however  maintained  that  as  he  was  a  trustee 
of  the  church,  and  had  given  more  towards  it  than  any 
other  member,  he  was  equally  entitled  as  the  preacher  to 
control  it.  1  preached  to  a  very  fair  congregation,  com- 
prising the  preacher  aforesaid,  who  arose  after  meeting, 
and  in  a  short  address  to  the  audience,  attempted  to  justify 
his  conduct  in  objeciing  to  my  occupancy  of  the  house. 

The  Methodists  are  a  singular  people  as  it  respects  re- 
ligion. Their  ideas  resemble  a  bunch  of  tangled  yarn, 
full  of  knots  and  kinks.  I  am  much  amused  by  the  ques- 
tions they  sometimes  ask  me.  "  Do  your  people  believe 
in  experience?"  "Do  you  believe  in  faith?"  "Do 
your  people  ever  get  sanctified?" 

"  I  tried  for  eleven  years  to  believe  your  doctrine," 
observed  one,  "with  all  my  might;  but  I  couldnH  come  ity 
for  1  knew  1  would  be  eternally  lost,  if  I  did." 

"  You  think,  nevertheless,"  I  replied,  "  that  you  are  a 
free  agent." 

"  O  yes,  to  be  sure  I  am,"  was  the  answer. 

"Well,  my  friend."  I  rejoined,  "should  you  ever  be 
saved  at  length,  it  will  be  more  by  good  luck  than  good 
management;  for  by  your  own  account  you  tried  hard  for 
eleven  years  to  damn  yourself  eternally,  but  you  could 
not  make  it  out."  Truth  is,  that  the  mass  of  the  Metho- 
dists do  not  know  what  they  believe,  nor  why. 

June  13.  I  reached  Jackson;  and  glad  enough  to  have 
got  once  more  into  a  region  where  the  tokens  of  civiliza- 
tion were  visible.  Upon  my  honor,  reader,  until  I  ap- 
proached this  place  1  had  scarcely  seen  a  decent  building 
in  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles;  all  log  cabins, 
and  they  of  the  rudest  and  most  comfortless  d(  scription, 
without  window  lights,  or  daubing,  or  whi  ewash,  or  the 
least  approach  to  indoor  or  out-of-door  embellishments;  no 
gardens  deserving  the  name;  no  shrubbery;  none  of  the 
fruits  or  vegetables  of  the  season  on  the  table,  none  to  be 


324         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

seen;  a  dry  and  unvarying  diet  of  bread,  meat,  coffee,  and 
sour  milk.  Now  if  this  state  of  things  was  unavoidable, 
if  it  resulted  from  poverty,  I  should  hold  myself  inexcu- 
sable in  remarking  upon  it;  but  such  is  not  the  fact;  it 
holds  with  regard  to  all,  poor  and  rich,  with  slaves  and 
without,  with  large  and  with  small  plantations,  with  fertile 
or  with  sterile  lands.  It  results  either  from  an  inordinate 
cupidity,  or  a  want  of  refinement;  possibly  from  a  union 
of  both  these  causes. 


La  Grange,  Tennessee,  is  a  handsomely  situated  town, 
on  Wolf  river,  within  a  few  miles  of  the  northern  limit  of 
Mississippi;  it  used  to  be  a  place  of  considerable  trade 
with  the  Chickasaws,  previous  to  the  purchase  of  their 
territory  by  our  National  Government:  it  has  now  lost  that 
resource. 

I  tarried  something  over  two  weeks  in  La  Grange  and 
vicinity,  preaching  every  day,  when  the  getting  up  of  a 
meeting  was  practicable.  If  at  any  time,  when  out  on 
my  tours,  I  could  be  tempted  to  give  up  to  indolent  self- 
indulgence,  I  could  have  been  at  the  very  agreeable 
residence  of  our  friend,  Charles  Mickie,  Esq.;  for  while 
without  the  weather  was  burning  hot,  there  were  ample 
means  for  luxuriant  relaxation  within,  together  with  the 
assurance  of  a  very  cordial  welcome.  But  most  heartily 
do  I  despise  a  clergyman  who  can  indolently  lounge  for 
days  together  where  he  finds  entertainment  to  his  liking, 
until  he  fairly  wears  out  his  welcome,  and  becomes  a 
nuisance  to  his  entertainers. 

1  cannot  much  boast  of  my  audiences  in  La  Grange: 
the  other  sects  had  recourse  to  a  measure  which  can 
alone  avail  against  our  doctrine — 1  mean  that  of  avoid- 
ance. Their  ministers  most  rigorously  enforced  this 
principle;  and  in  order  to  succeed  the  better  in  it,  they 
kept  their  own  meetings  a-going  during  the  whole  time 
of  my  stay.  When  asked  how  long  they  intended  keep- 
ing up  their  operations,  one  of  them  answered,  "  for  as 
long  a  time  as  the  devil  continues  in  these  parts." 

Somerville  is  a  very  neat  town.  I  preached  three  ser- 
mons there,  and  put  up  with  two  respectable  physicians 
of  the  place.  At  Salem,  Holly  Springs,  and  Ripley,  in 
Mississippi,  I  also  preached;  as  well  as  at  Berlin,  Van 
Buren,  and  Middleburg,  in  Tennessee. 

Ii  was   my  purpose   to  sell    my  horse  and  buggy,  and 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PEEACHER.  326 

take  boat  for  Cincinnati,  at  Memphis  or  Randolph;  but 
money  proved  too  scarce  to  admit  of  my  succeeding  in 
that  object.  I,  therefore,  commenced  my  return  by  land 
travel,  on  Monday,  June  29th;  and  delivered  a  discourse 
at  Middle  burg,  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  I  stayed 
with  Esquire  Hodge  there.  My  meeting  had  been  ap- 
pointed to  be  held  in  the  Methodist  church.  One  of  the 
preachers,  however,  went  previously  to  the  hour  appointed 
and  procured  the  dismissal  of  the  school  which  is  held 
in  the  church,  in  order  that  he  might  lock  the  door 
against  me;  but  this  circumstance  did  not  in  the  least 
incommode  me,  for  I  preached  under  an  arbor  before 
the  house,  which  was  seated  for  the  purpose. 

On  July  3d,  I  had  an  adventure  at  which  the  reader 
may  be  amused.  It  was,  however,  not  very  amusing  to 
me  at  the  time,  but  I  can  join  in  the  laugh  now.  About 
noon  in  the  day,  the  weather  being  intensely  hot,  I  stopped 
under  the  shadow  of  a  tree  by  the  roadside,  and  after 
stripping  and  rubbing  down  my  horse,  1  left  him  at  large 
to  pick  some  grass  which  grew  plentifully  in  the  woods. 
After  an  hour  or  so  I  went  to  catch  him,  but  found  him 
to  be  not  exactly  of  my  mind  on  that  point — he  made 
from  me  at  full  gallop,  in  a  direction  at  a  right  angle  with 
the  road,  and  in  spite  of  all  my  efforts  to  head  him,  he 
would  run  by  me  and  keep  in  that  direction!  The  chase 
continued  for  a  full  hour,  and  I,  having  become  exhausted 
by  heat  and  fatigue  began  to  despair  of  catching  him  at 
all,  when  suddenly  he  seemed  to  relent,  and  stopped  until 
I  came  up  with  him.  By  this  time  I  was  completely 
bewildered  in  a  wilderness  of  bushes  and  scrub  oaks. 

I  knew  not  what  course  to  take  to  get  back  to  the 
road,  so  making  the  best  guess  I  could,  I  traveled  and 
traveled  several  weary  miles,  seeing  no  indication  of 
any  opening  or  a  habitation,  and  I  began  to  fear  that  I 
should  have  to  spend  the  night  in  those  desolate  barrens. 
At  length  I  had  the  happiness  to  strike  a  path  of  some 
kind,  which  led  me,  finally,  to  a  wagon  track,  and  that, 
after  a  while,  to  the  road  I  was  in  quest  of  The  next 
point  was  to  determine  which  ejzrf  of  the  road  I  should  take, 
(as  they  say  in  the  South,)  in  order  to  get  to  my  carriage, 
which  all  this  time,  full  four  hours,  had  stood  in  the  broad 
road  with  all  it  contained,  at  the  entire  mercy  of  such  as 
chanced  to  pass  by:  in  it  was  my  trunk,  containing  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  in  money,  without  a  lock,  and 


326        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

only  guarded  by  a  strap  and  buckle.  I  had  the  good" 
fortune  to  find  all  safe,  however,  two  full  miles  from 
where  I  got  back  into  the  road. 

I  have  great  reason  to  be  thankful  to  that  kind  Provi* 
dence  which  takes  far  more  care  of  me  than  1  do  of  my- 
self, for  the  issue  of  this  affair,  and  others  of  a  similar 
nature  which  have  occurred  to  me  in  my  several  tours. 

July  4th,  I  re-crossed  the  Tennessee  river,  over  against 
Reynoldsburg,  which  is  but  a  small  huddle  of  mean  build- 
ings. There  is  a  horse-boat  ferry  there;  it  was  on  the 
opposite  shore  when  I  arrived.  The  negroes  who  have 
the  management  of  it,  reported,  when  they  came  over, 
that  a  canoe  they  had  passed  in  the  middle  of  the  stream, 
and  which  seemed  to  have  no  one  in  it,  contained  two 
runaways,  who  were  lying  down  in  the  bottom  for 
^concealment.  This  report  set  the  man  at  the  ferry  to 
cursing  in  great  wrath,  threatening  to  bring  out  his  rifle 
in  order  to  give  chase;  meanwhile  as  he  was  expending 
his  wrath  in  threats,  the  current  was  wafting  the  canoe 
more  and  more  beyond  his  reach,  until  he  saw  that 
pursuit  would  be  hopeless,  and  then  he  cursed  the  negroes 
for  not  hallooing  out  to  him  as  soon  as  they  had  made  the 
discovery. 

When  he  had  cooled  sufficiently,  I  inquired  of  him 
what  "runaways"  meant.  He  informed  me  they  were 
slaves  effecting  their  escape  into  the  free  States  by  means 
of  the  river,  which  empties  into  the  Ohio,  about  forty 
miles  above  its  junction  with  the  Mississippi,  the  State  of 
Illinois  lying  over  against  its  embochure.  Very  many 
slaves,  he  told  me,  escape  from  their  masters  in  this  way, 
and  commit  many  thefts  on  the  shores  of  the  river  in 
their  descent.  So  long  as  the  canoe  was  in  sight,  he  eyed 
them — for  they  arose  in  a  sitting  position  when  out  of 
gun-shot  range  from  the  house — as  wishfully  as  a  cat 
watches  its  prey,  and  when  they  had  dwindled  to  a  dim 
speck  in  the  distance,  he  turned  from  them,  muttering 
that  *'  it  was  a  d — d  wrong  thing  in  our  government  to  have 
free  States:' 

The  State  of  Tennessee  seems  to  profit  very  little  by 
the  river  of  that  name,  although  it  is  a  most  noble  stream, 
of  nearly  the  width  of  the  Ohio;  but  its  bordering  lands 
are  so  barren  and  broken  that  no  towns  can  be  supported 
on  its  shores;  its  bottom  lands  too  are  narrow,  and  gene- 
rally too  wet  for  tillage;  the  stream,  moreover,  runs  the 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  327 

wrong  way  for  the  profit  of  the  country  it  waters:  It  runs 
from  southeast  to  northwest,  and  therefore  makes  no 
point  which  affords  a  market  for  the  staple  products  of 
that  region;  if  its  course  had  been  southwest  or  due  south, 
it  could  have  been  very  profitably  employed  for  trading 
purposes.  Nature  really  seems  to  have  committed  a  blun- 
der in  this  case. 

I  was  as  much  annoyed  by  the  rains  on  my  return,  as 
in  my  journey  down.  It  rained  hard  for  eight  successive 
days :  the  country  was  flooded,  and  the  rivers  were  full  to 
the  brim.  I  parted  with  my  buggy,  to  an  innkeeper,  be- 
tween the  Little  Barren  and  Green  rivers,  and  prosecuted 
the  residue  of  my  journey  on  horseback,  as  far  as  Lexing- 
ton, Kentucky,  which  I  reached  on  the  15th. 

I  called  at  the  plantation  of  Mr.  Pullam,  in  the  vicinity 
of  that  city,  where  I  tarried  until  the  evening  of  the  16'h. 
when  I  preached  in  the  Court-house  in  Lexington.  1  deln- 
ered,  I  judge,  a  very  moving  sermon;  for,  by  the  time  [ 
had  concluded  it,  one-half  of  the  congregation,  agreeably 
to  a  very  sensible  and  praise-worthy  custom  in  Kentucky, 
had  moved  out  of  doors.  As  Mr.  Pullam  kindly  offered 
to  keep  my  horse,  determined  to  go  home  by  the  stage, 
which  leaves  Lexington  every  day  at  five  o'clock,  p.  m.; 
goes  on  to  Georgetown,  twelve  miles,  where  it  stops  until 
the  next  morning,  it  then  proceeds  on  and  reaches  Cincin- 
nati, by  sun-down.  Being  exceedingly  anxious  to  get 
home,  I  set  out  on  foot  on  the  night  of  the  16th,  after 
preaching  at  Lexington,  and  walking  leisurely,  I  reached 
Georgetown  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  But,  ah,  my 
night  toil  proved  to  have  been  undergone  in  vain,  for  by 
a  new  arrangement,  the  stage  had  anticipated  its  stated 
hour  of  starling,  and  I  was  too  late  for  it.  Well,  all  was 
right,  doubtless;  for,  in  my  excessively  fatigued  state,  I 
»X)uld  not  safely  have  endured  the  seventy  miles  of  rough 
staging,  without  a  previous  respite  of  rest.  I  reached 
my  home  on  the  18th,  at  sun-down,  and  had  the  happiness 
to  find  my  family  in  perfect  health,  for  which  my  hear*, 
arose  in  thankfulness  to  God. 


328        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 


CHAPTER    XV. 

Journeys  with  his  family  through  Ohio,  and  a  large  portion  of  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania — Visits  several  portions  of  New  Eng- 
land— Various  travels  about  the  Hudson  river,  and  the  regions 
about  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore — Returns  to  Cin- 
cinnati, by  a  long  and  devious  land  journey,  after  an  absence  of 
a  year. 

As  in  my  journey  through  Kentucky  I  had  been  much 
charmed  with  the  country,  on  account  of  its  exceeding 
beauty,  I  returned  to  it  in  the  latter  part  of  July,  accom- 
panied by  my  family,  and  spent  a  month  in  professional 
labors  in  the  parts  about  Lexington.  After  our  return, 
we  started  to  re-visit  the  part  of  Pennsylvania  in  which 
my  wife  was  born,  and  I  had  formerly  labored.  In  this 
journey  we  traversed  the  State  of  Ohio  diagonally  from 
southwest  to  northeast,  being  a  distance  of  two  hundred 
and  forty  miles,  through  a  country  of  almost  uninterrupt- 
ed fertility  and  beauty.  It  was  the  season  when  peaches 
are  ripe  in  that  region;  and  as  throughout  Ohio  the  chris- 
tian-like  practice  prevails  of  planting  this  delicious  fruit- 
tree  along  road-sides,  we  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  drive 
our  carriage  under  the  branches,  which  overhung  the 
fences  in  our  way.  and  help  ourselves  to  as  many  as  we 
wished.  Even  our  horse  had  them  every  day  for  a  desert 
after  his  oats.  Our  custom  was,  to  drive  into  a  woods 
about  noon-tide,  where  the  horse  would  be  stripped  of  his 
gearing,  and  our  children,  two  little  girls,  of  whatever 
tended  to  impede  the  freedom  of  a  romp;  and  thus  we 
passed,  in  pleasant  and  cooling  relaxation,  an  hour  or  two 
of  Ihe  most  sultry  portion  of  the  day.  Oh!  for  what 
social  sins  has  heaven  suffered  us  to  be  cursed  with  rail- 
roads, whereby  the  poetry  of  travel  will  soon  be  destroyed 
forever! 

On  our  arrival  at  Cleveland,  the  wind  was  blowing  so 
tempestuously  that  no  boat  could  enter  the  harbor,  and  it 
so  continued  for  nearly  forty-eight  hours.  We  were  hos- 
pitably entertained,  meanwhile,  at  the  residence  of  Mr. 
Burnam,  a  merchant  of  the  place.  As  we  were  in  haste 
to  reach  Auburn,  New  York,  in  time  for  the  meeting  of 
the  United  States  Convention  there,  we  put  out  in  the  first 
boat  that  left  the  port.  This  was  just  after  night-fall. 
The  wind  was  still  blowing  hard,  and   the   waves   were 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  329 

Surging  against  the  beach  with  great  fury.  It  continued 
rough  through  the  night.  My  poor  horse  was  washed 
loose  from  his  fastening  near  the  bow,  by  a  large  wave, 
and  carried  several  yards  loward  the  waist  of  the  vessel. 
In  the  morning  the  wind  had  greatly  abated,  and  the 
agitated  surface  of  the  lake  soon  subsided  into  placidity. 

We  stopped  a  night  at  Buffalo,  with  Benjamin  Caryl, 
and  next  morning  pushed  on  with  all  convenient  speed  to- 
ward Auburn.  It  was  during  the  highly  exciting  Presiden- 
tial canvass  of  eighteen  hundred  and  forty;  and  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  we  met,  was  huzzaing  for  some- 
body. Groups  of  urchins,  let  out  of  school  for  play, 
would  greet  us  as  we  passed,  with,  "Huzza  for  Tippe- 
canoe !  huzza  for  Harrison  !  huzza  for  Tip  and  Tv  ! ! 
Poor  Van  Buren,  I  could  not  but  see,  had  a  sorry  chance 
for  success  in  that  campaign.  These  gusts  of  popularity, 
would  be  worth  something  to  a  man,  if,  after  filling  his 
sails,  and  driving  him  gallantly  along  over  opposing  waves 
for  a  while,  they  did  not  all  too  soon  subside,  and  leave  his 
canvass  to  flap  against  the  mast,  and  menace  him  with  an 
overturn. 

After  the  meeting  at  Auburn,  we  kept  on  still  easterly, 
to  Utica.  We  stopped  a  day  or  two  at  Clinton,  which  was 
on  our  route,  where  I  delivered  an  evening  discourse. 
We  tarried  with  Timothy  Clowes,  Doctor  of  Laws,  who 
was  the  Universalist  pastor  there,  and  principal  of  the 
Liberal  Institute.  With  the  cordial  welcome  which  he  and 
his  lady  accorded  to  us,  we  were  more  than  satisfied; 
but  with  the  other  residents  of  Clinton — those  who  called 
themselves  Universalists,  I  mean;  the  rest,  1  would  hope, 
were  of  a  better  stamp — we  thought  that,  however  liberal 
their  Institute  might  be,  they  were  the  least  liberal  people 
we  had  ever  found.  I  pray  heaven,  it  may  never  chance 
to  a  certain  wealthy  couple  there,  that  they  may  as  press- 
ingly  need  the  hospitality  of  others,  as  we  did  theirs,  and 
be  as  unfeelingly  denied  it  as  we  were  by  them! 

At  the  hospitable  and  ^beautiful  home  of  Dolphue  Skin- 
ner we  spent  two  or  three  very  pleasant  days.  It  is  situa- 
ted three  miles  east  of  Utica,  in  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk, 
and  consists  of  an  elegant  brick  mansion,  with  various  out- 
buildings, and  some  two  hundred  acres  of  fertile  and  well 
lying  land.  Thence  we  paid  a  visit  to  Trenton  Falls, 
twelve  miles  north  of  Utica,  and  felt  ourselves  well  com- 
pensated for  our  pains.  How  that  scene  would  impress 
22 


330         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

me  now,  after  having  seen  Niagara,  I  know  not;  but  I 
never  before  nor  since  was  so  awe-struck  as  when,  having 
descended  a  long  flight  of  steps  which  conducts  from  the 
brow  to  the  bottom  of  an  almost  perpendicular  precipice, 
I  found  myself  standing  on  a  foot-wide  terrace,  which 
alone  separated  between  a  wall  of  rock  which  towered 
more  than  a  hundred  feet  high  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
dark,  smooth,  yet  fearfully  swift  stream  that  almost 
washed  my  feet  on  the  other.  And  oh !  how  infinite,  from 
its  darkness,  seemed  the  depth  of  that  stream!  I  could 
not  keep  the  image  of  the  river  of  death  from  haunting 
my  fancy;  and  I  ahnost  looked  for  the  grim  old  Charon  to 
appear  with  his  boat,  to  conduct  us  over  that  dark-gliding 
Styx.  From  such  like  scenes,  methinks,  must  the  imagery 
of  that  poetic  fiction  have  been  originally  borrowed;  and 
the  cave  of  Cerberus  must  have  been  imagined  to  yawn 
in  the  side  of  some  such  deep  and  gloomy  gulf  as  that. 

But  these  falls  comprise  many  scenes  of  varied  beautyy 
also,  as  well  as  of  gloomy  grandeur.  They  extend  sev- 
eral miles,  and  comprise  several  cascades  in  their  course. 
Near  their  termination  is  a  village,  which  takes  its  name 
from  them,  and  derives,  probably,  a  part  of  its  support 
from  the  visitors  they  attract.  1  preached  there  on  the 
evening  of  my  stay  in  the  parts. 

From  thence,  proceeding  southerly  toward  Pennsyl- 
vania, we  passed  through  Marshall,  and  tarried  two  days 
there — on  the  evenings  of  which,  as  my  invariable  cus- 
tom is,  1  preached — with  an  intelligent  Indian  called  Cap- 
tain Dick.  He  was  a  very  sincere  Universalist,  and, 
although  he  could  not  read,  was  familiar  with  our  princi- 
pal writings;  took  one  of  our  weekly  papers,  and  could 
converse  most  rationally  and  in  an  admirable  spirit,  upon 
our  doctrines  and  their  influences.  His  family,  consisting 
of  a  wife  and  several  daughters,  were  of  a  much  darker 
hue  than  himself.  His  children  were  receiving  an  educa- 
tion, and  he  had  them  to  read  his  books  and  papers  to  him. 
He  transacted  a  great  deal  of  business,  owned  mills,  kept 
a  store  or  two,  had  several  branches  of  mechanism  carried 
on;  and  no  man's  credit  stood  higher  for  commercial  in- 
tegrity than  Captain  Dick's. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  describe  the  enjoyment,  amount- 
ing at  times  to  rapture,  with  which  we  re-trod  the  scenes 
of  former  travel  amongst  the  beautiful  Susquehanna  and 
its  tributaries.     To  even  a  stranger's  mind,  in  which  was 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  331 

the  smallest  tinge  of  romance,  communion  with  nature  in 
those  parts  must  needs  be  delightful :  how  much  more  so 
must  it  have  been  to  us,  who  in  every  mountain,  hill-side, 
vale,  rock,  stream,  ravine,  recognized  a  former  acquaint- 
ance? Will  the  reader  smile  at  my  simplicity,  when  I  tell 
him,  that  my  spirits  piped  a  joyous  dance,  as  we  trod 
again  the  grim  solitudes  of  the  beech  and  hemlock  forests? 
Oh!  but  there  are  rich  scenes  of  autumnal  beauty  there, 
to  those  who  have  eyes  to  see  them,  withal!  Nature,  how- 
ever, has  them  pretty  much  to  herself.  She  treads  almost 
alone  her  carpet  of  leaves;  and  on  few  ears  besides  falls 
the  music  of  the  many  and  varied  woodland  sounds  which 
come  with  so  soothing  an  influence  upon  the  heart. 

We  were  guests,  for  a  night,  with  Mrs.  Scott,  the  poetess, 
with  whom  we  had  been  intimate  in  former  years.  Miss 
Sarah  C.  Edgarton  was  also  there  on  a  more  protracted 
visit,  at  the  same  time.  Thence  we  pushed  on  to  see  our 
amiable  friends  of  Susquehanna  county,  to  whom  I  deliv- 
ered several  discourses;  and  thence  to  Wilksbarre,  in  the 
far-famed  Wyoming  valley.  Much  praised  by  poetry  has 
that  scene  been,  but  not  over-praised,  I  think.  Yet  its 
charms,  it  must  be  owned,  are  much  enhanced  by  contrast 
with  the  ruggedness  and  sterility  of  the  surrounding  re- 
gion. A  broad  alluvial  plain,  however,  begirt  on  either 
hand  by  towering  hills  which  slope  to  it  in  various  degrees 
of  inclination,  and  along  which  meanders  one  of  the  love- 
liest rivers  in  the  world,  cannot  lack  for  charms  of  its 
•own,  independently  of  such  contrast. 

We  next  kept  on  to  Carbondale,  where  are  the  mines  of 
the  Delaware  and  Hudson  Coal  Company.  Stupendous 
mountains,  russet-hued  with  utter  barrenness — deep,  deep 
hollows,  sun-excluding,  dark,  humid,  and  chill  from  their 
-depth — and  swift  streams,  winding  their  dark  way  amongst 
•obstructing  rocks,  and  fallen  trees,  and  decaying  leaves 
and  branches — such,  including  tall  hemlocks  and  massive 
ledges,  are  the  characteristics  of  that  forbidding  region. 
And  such  it  continues,  with  varied  forms  of  ruggedness 
and  sterility,  relieved  at  intervals  by  tracts  which  are 
barely  cultivable,  the  whole  long  distance  to  the  Delaware 
river.  In  this  region  is  situated  the  tract  called  the 
Beech  Woods,  aforedescribed,  which  is  termed  good,  be- 
cause grass  grows  there;  and  rye,  oats,  potatoes,  and  other 
products  of  cold  and  niggard  soils,  can  be  made  to  grow. 
Yet  the  everlastiog  New  Englander  is   there !    0£  that 


332         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

hardy  and  enterprising  class,  indeed,  is  composed  the  great 
majority  of  the  population  of  north-eastern  Pennsylvania. 
None  but  they  could  cope  with  its  difficulties,  and  to  them 
are  due  the  thanks  that  it  was  not  left  to  remain  a  wilder- 
ness until  the  consummation  of  time. 

Thence  we  proceeded  southerly  to  Philadelphia,  stop- 
ping by  the  way  at  the  Williams  Settlement;  at  Easton; 
at  Joshua  Dungan's,  in  Bucks  county;  and  other  of  my 
old  resorts.  From  Philadelphia,  after  a  stay  of  a  few 
weeks,  my  wife  and  children  returned  by  canal,  railroad, 
and  the  Ohio  river,  to  Cincinnati;  and  I  remained  behind 
to  await  the  issue  of  the  fourth  edition  of  the  Pro  and  Con. 
I  had  previously  disposed  of  three  thousand  copies  thereof 
in  the  western  country,  and  have  sold  two  thousand  copies 
there  since. 

By  several  untoward  circumstances,  I  was  detained  at 
the  East  for  full  nine  months,  ere  I  could  get  started  on 
my  homeward  return.  A  part  of  that  time  I  spent  in 
Philadelphia.  For  seven  weeks  I  supplied  the  place  of 
James  Shrigley,  at  Baltimore.  Very  pleasant  weeks 
were  they,  too.  I  also  preached  several  Sabbaths  at 
Hightstown,  New  Jersey,  and  so  loved  our  people  there, 
that  I  could  have  been  well  content  to  end  my  days 
amongst  them,  had  circumstances  admitted  thereof.  Much 
time,  off  and  on,  I  also  spent  in  New  York  city,  where  I 
was  often  the  guest  of  T.  J.  Sawyer — oftener  of  Abner 
Chichester — and  oftenest  of  T.  D.  Williamson. 

I  visited  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  and  preached  a  Sab- 
bath there  in  the  Universalist  church,  where  W.  S.  Balch 
statedly  ministered.  B.  H.  Davis,  of  Attleboro',  Massa- 
chusetts, drove  in  to  my  meeting  in  the  evening,  after  his 
own  labors  of  the  day;  and  at  his  persuasion  I  took  a  seat 
in  his  vehicle  for  Attleboro',  and  thence  to  Framingham, 
where  a  Conference  was  to  be  held  on  the  following  Wed- 
nesday. 

In  some  of  its  features.  Providence  is  a  place  much  to 
my  liking.  Very  many  of  its  dwellings  have  a  rurality 
of  situation  and  appearance.  Almost  the  entire  city  is 
painted  white  :  it  covers  much  ground,  from  the  circum- 
stance that  the  most  of  the  dwellings  have  the  great  ad- 
vantage of  liberal  yard-room.  Yet  is  the  straggling  char- 
acter the  city  acquires  from  hence  a  fault,  as  well  as  a 
benefit;  for  it  makes  it  necessary  that  so  much  fatigue 
must  be  incurred  in  walking  from  one  to  the  other  ex- 


OF   A   UNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  333 

tremity  of  it.  On  the  east  side  of  the  river  is  a  high  ele- 
vation of  land,  along  the  declivity  of  which,  and  on  its 
level  summit,  are  some  exquisitely  beautiful  residences, 
which  it  would  be  hard  to  find  surpassed,  in  point  of  situa- 
tion, the  wide  world  over. 

On  our  way  to  Framingham,  we  passed  through  many 
villages,  which  afforded  me  much  to  admire.  I  was  now 
in  Yankee-land  itself;  and,  with  a  confident  pre-expecta- 
tion  of  finding  pretty  villages  and  pretty  churches,  they 
had  need  to  be  eminently  so,  to  please  me;  and  such,  in- 
deed, I  found  them.  The  best  situation  the  village  site 
affords,  I  found,  is  invariably  allotted  to  the  churches;  and 
pains  appear  to  have  been  taken,  in  most  cases,  to  create 
a  pretty  green  sward  around  them.  This  is  well.  Our 
thoughts  of  God's  temples  should,  in  all  respects,  be  plea- 
sant thoughts;  the  fancy,  as  well  as  the  heart,  should  love 
them;  and  memory,  when  it  reverts  to  them  from  far-away 
scenes,  should  find  them  associated  always  with  images  of 
the  holy  and  the  beautiful. 

When  I  entered  the  church  at  Framingham,  the  services 
of  the  Conference  had  commenced.  A  minister,  I  then 
knew  not  who,  was  offering  an  exposition  of  Hebrews  6  : 
1,2.  I  was  soon  struck  by  the  exceeding  lucidness  of  his 
style,  the  conscientiousness  with  which  he  attended  to 
every  minute  point  in  the  passage,  the  scholar-like  char- 
acter of  his  diction,  and  his  candid  and  gentlemanly 
bearing. 

"  Who  15  that  gentleman?"  asked  I,  in  a  whisper,  of  J. 
O.  Skinner,  the  pastor  there. 

"It  is  Hosea  Ballou,  2nd,"  whispered  he  in  reply,  "or 
*  Cousin,'  as  we  familiarly  term  him  hereabout.'" 

By  special  request  of  the  pastor,  and  much  against  my 
inclination,  in  the  presence  of  so  many  abler  preachers, 
I  delivered  a  discourse  in  the  afternoon.  A  social  meeting 
in  the  evening  closed  the  services. 

Thence  to  Boston,  by  railroad,  was  but  twenty  miles. 
I  arrived  there  on  Saturday,  and,  at  the  offices  of  Thomas 
Whittemore,  of  the  Trumpet,  and  Abel  Tompkins,  of  the 
Repository,  Expositor,  etc.,  I  soon  obtained  introductions 
to  some  score  or  so  of  our  ministers.  Benjamin  Whitte- 
more showed  me  many  attentions.  He  took  me  into  the 
Legislative  Halls,  and  up  to  the  dome  of  the  noble  State 
House — whence  may  be  obtained  such  a  varied  prospect  of 
the  city,  suburban  appendages,  the  bay,  the  shipping,  dis- 


334  EXPERIENCE,    LABORS,    AND    TRAVELS 

tant  towns,  intervening  hills  and  vales,  the  blue  ocean,  etc^ 
as  few  places  in  the  world  can  command,  I  think. 

Toward  evening,  on  Saturday,  I  went  to  Cambridgeport^ 
a  suburb  of  Boston,  whither  had  moved,  from  New  Orleans, 
the  family  of  my  friend,  J.  H.  Hilton.  I  had  a  new  work 
in  progress,  to  be  entitled,  Tales  from  Life.  The  series, 
consisted  of  four  illustrative  stories.  I  wrote  the  second  of 
them  on  the  same  marble  centre-table  on  which,  years  be- 
fore, I  had  written,  in  the  far-off  city  of  New  Orleans,  the 
chapter  on  "  Fore-Knowledge  and  Fore-Ordination"  in  the 
Pro  and  Con.  The  family  informed  me,  that  the  latter 
circumstance  had  operated  as  a  reason  for  their  refusal 
to  sell  that  article  of  furniture,  at  the  time  of  their 
removal. 

Thomas  Whittemore  resided  at  Cambridgeport,  as  did 
also  Lucius  R.  Paige.  The  former  was  temporarily  the 
pastor  of  our  church  there.  They  visited  me  together, 
at  Mr.  Hilton's,  on  Saturday  evening,  and  the  former  en- 
gag€Ki  me  to  preach  for  him  on  the  morrow.  I  liked,  ex- 
ceedingly, our  place  of  worship  there,  as  I  also  did  the 
decorum  of  the  congregation  and  the  solemnity  of  the  ser- 
vices. I  must  say  the  same,  en  passant,  of  all  the  New 
England  assemblies  for  worship  in  which  I  was  present. 

I  was  frequently  the  guest  of  O.  A.  Skinner,  and  Sebas- 
tian Streeter,  in  the  vestries  of  whose  churches  I  enjoyed 
several  excellent  social  meetings.  1  also  preached  an  eve- 
ning in  Benjamin  \V  bittemore's  church,  South  Boston; 
and,  after  preaching  for  an  hour,  I  gave  them,  by  special 
request,  an  equally  long  discourse  of  a  social,  slip-shod 
character,  which  detained  the  congregation  till  nearly  ten 
o'clock.  A  rather  irregular  proceeding  for  the  '•  land  of 
steady  habits" — but  as  1  was  fresh  from  the  West,  I  profit- 
ed by  the  indulgence  which  refinement  so  considerately 
accords  to  semi-barbarism. 

To  Thomas  Whittemore,  also,  I  was  indebted  for  many 
attentions.  He  took  me  to  the  dedication  of  a  new  church, 
at  West  Cambridge,  a  chef  d^cotivre,  I  should  pronounce 
it,  of  the  semi-gothic  style  of  architecture.  It  made,  if  I 
mistake  not,  the  twenty-fourth  of  our  churches  in  the  single 
county  of  Middlesex.  He  also  conveyed  me  to  an  evening 
party  at  Mr.  Bacon's,  father  of  Henry  Bacon,  of  the  La- 
dies' Repository,  where  were  assembled  some  score  or  so 
of  our  ministers  and  their  wives — ladies,  is  a.  more  modish, 
but  not  so  good  a  word,  I  think;  for  who  would  give  one 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  335 

wife  for  twenty  ladies  ?  not  I,  certainly — and  we  there 
made  a  most  agreeable  evening  together  by  conversing, 
singing,  and  the  like.  As  often  as  once  in  every  year 
Mr.  Bacon  gives  a  similar  entertainment,  I  was  told. 

1  went  by  railroad  to  Lowell,  where  I  preached  thrice 
on  a  Sabbath,  in  the  First  Society's  meeting-house,  to 
very  large  assemblages.  T.  B.  Thayer,  for  many  years 
the  pastor  of  that  society,  took  me  about  that  city  of  mush- 
room growth,  and  showed  me  its  numerous  large  cotton- 
factories,  and  other  objects  of  interest.  I  cannot  say  that 
I  was  much  charmed  with  the  sights  I  saw  there.  I  have 
no  faculty,  no  taste,  for  mechanism..  For  me,  the  clish- 
clash  of  machinery  is  no  music;  nor  do  I  relish  the  linger- 
ing in  districts  where  little  besides  is  to  be  seen  or  heard. 

To  Manchester,  New  Hampshire,  the  distance  from 
Lowell  is  thirty-five  miles;  the  first  fifteen  bringing  the 
traveler  as  far  as  Nashua,  and  are  performed  by  railroad 
— whence  the  residue  of  the  distance  must  be  performed 
by  stage.  I  preached  one  Sabbath  in  Manchester,  which  is 
a  tolerably  pleasant  manufacturing  place.  Its  meeting- 
house is  a  very  substantial-looking  one,  of  brick,  sur- 
mounted by  a  steeple.  I  admired  how,  at  the  sound  of 
the  church-going  bell,  every  dwelling  seemed  to  empty 
itself  of  its  inmates,  men,  women,  children,  all  in  best  ar- 
ray— God's  blessing  on  them — were  thronging  the  walks 
to  the  several  places  in  the  town  where  "  prayer  was  wont 
to  be  made ;"  and  I  could  not  but  think  how  odious,  in 
contrast  with  this,  is  the  stupid  indifference  to  religious 
worship  which  so  prevalently  exists  in  the  West.  I  was 
the  guest,  while  there,  of  a  man  who  had  resided  for  a 
number  of  years  in  Illinois.  He  informed  me,  that  the 
circumstance  last  named  was  among  the  reasons  which 
had  induced  his  return  to  Nev/  Hampshire. 

My  health  received  a  serious  shock  shortly  after  my 
return  from  New  England.  By  improvident  over-exer- 
tion and  exposure  of  myself,  I  incurred  a  rhu malic  at- 
tack, which  affected  my  whole  organism.  I  seriously 
judged  for  a  time  it  would  yield  to  no  rem.edies,  either  au- 
thenticated or  quack;  and  for  several  months  I  could  not 
use  my  carriage,  from  an  utter  Inability  to  get  in  or  out  of 
it.  Nevertheless,  I  relaxed  not  in  the  least  from  my  pro- 
fessional labors,  only  that  I  confined  them  to  places  which 
I  could  reach  by  easy  modes  of  conveyance.  I  visited 
and    preached    in    Poughkeepsie,    Albany,    Lansingburg, 


336         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

Schenectady,  Fort  Plain,  and  other  places  on  the  Hudson 
and  Mohawk  rivers.  And  as  from  New  York  there  are 
facilities  of  egress  to  many  neighboring  places  where  I 
might  thus  employ  myself,  I  made  that  city  my  chief 
place  of  sojourn.  I.  D.  Williamson  then  resided  there, 
and  had  charge  of  the  Elizabeth  Street  church.  At  his 
hospitable  dwelling,  1  mostly  made  my  home.  1  was  also 
much  at  Abner  Chichester's,  on  Market  street,  where  lever 
found  a  cordial  welcome  and  most  agreeable  household. 
But  oh!  what  a  blight  did  it  about  that  time  receive,  in  the 
loss  of  an  only  son,  about  whom,  as  well  it  might,  a  mo- 
ther's love  entwined  with  more  than  usual  fondness;  and 
upon  whose  uncommon  and  fast-unfolding  intellect,  con- 
joined with  such  moral  and  social  qualities  as  are  rarely 
met  with  in  lads  of  his  age,  a  father's  fondest  earthly 
hopes  were  founded.  Alas',  that  so  much  in  this  dim 
world  that  is  beautiful,  should  be  blasted  in  its  spring- 
time 1 

In  company  with  I.  D.  Williamson,  who  also  was  in  a 
delicate  state  of  health,  1  made  a  pleasant  trip  to  Red  Bank, 
New  Jersey,  a  little  village  about  six  miles  from  the  sea- 
shore, up  Shrewsbury  river.  There  we  and  J.  B.  Brit- 
tain  spent  several  pleasant  days,  in  sailing  excursions  on 
the  river  aforesaid,  and  bathing  in  the  ocean's  surf  at 
Long  Branch;  while,  on  every  evening,  one  or  other 
of  us  delivered  a  sermon  in  the  village. 

I  used,  when  in  New  York  city,  to  be  punctual  in  attend- 
ance at  the  social  meetings,  of  which  three  were  held 
each  week.  Despite  of  his  advanced  age,  Menzies  Rayner 
was  invariably  present  at  them,  and  as  invariably  found 
som>ething  lively  and  interesting  to  communicate.  Many 
excellent  laymen  there  were  in  that  city  who  could  speak 
sensibly  and  with  effect  at  those  meetings.  By  such  aux- 
iliaries a  pastor's  hands  may  be  much  strengthened  and  his 
heart  encouraged.  In  sooth,  sick  in  body  as  1  was  during 
my  sojourn  there,  I  had  much  enjoyment  of  a  religious 
kind  in  New  York. 

At  length  my  state  of  health  a  little  improved;  and  find- 
ing myself  able,  though  slowly  and  with  pain,  to  get  in 
and  out  of  my  vehicle,  I  started  on  a  slow  and  devious  pro- 
gress homeward.  For  variety's  sake,  I  will  furnish  the 
history  of  that  journey  in  the  form  of  two  letters  to  my 
wife,  which  were  written  during  its  progress. 


OF    A.   UMVERSALIST    PREACHER.  337 

Dear  Ruth: — You  will  doubtless  be  glad  to  hear  that  the 
wandering  sinner  is  returning  from  the  error  of  his  way, 
and  directing  his  steps  to  his  long-forsaken  home.  How 
protracted  may  be  his  stay,  when  he  gets  there,  he  prom- 
ises not;  but  he  thinks  it  must  be  a  long  while,  per  force, 
as  rheumatism  and  rambling,  (though  the  words  alliterate 
well,)  are  things  that  agree  not  well  together. 

And  shall  I  make  you  my  j)uhlic,  Ruthy,  and  spread 
my  yarn  of  travels  before  you?  Well,  you  will  prove  a 
lenient  critic,  I  warrant  you;  and  I  shall  have  the  advan- 
tage of  a  more  intimate  sympathy,  on  your  part,  in  my  im- 
portant doings  and  adventures,  than  I  can  hope  for  from 
the  larger  public,  before  whom  I  oft  presumptuously  dis- 
play these  trifles. 

Your  sister  Nancy  accompanied  me  from  Philadelphia 
to  Bordentown,  where  by  arrangement,  a  friend  met  us 
with  a  vehicle  and  conducted  us  to  Hightstown.  This 
place,  I  must  inform  you,  and  that  is  more  than  your  best 
geographys  will,  is  about  mid-way  between  Philadelphia 
and  New  York,  on  the  railroad  which  runs  from  Camden 
to  South  Amboy.  Between  these  two  great  emporiums. 
New  Jersey,  to  use  Dr.  Franklin's  figure,  is  in  the  situa- 
tion of  a  barrel  of  cider,  tapped  at  both  ends.  To  the  lat- 
ter from  South  Amboy  is  so  delightful  a  sail!  Have  I  never 
described  it  to  you,  Ruthy?  Have  1  never  told  you  of  the 
green  declivities,  and  brilliantly  white  villas  of  Staten 
Island?  and  the  magnificent  approach  to  the  many-masted 
harbor  of  New  York  by  the  bay  of  that  name,  which 
would  he  matchless,  if  there  were  no  bay  of  Naples  to 
eclipse  it?  Well,  never  mind;  I  will  describe  these  to  your 
private  ear,  most  transcendentally,  ere  long.  It  were  too 
wide  a  digression  to  do  so  here. 

From  Hightstown,  where  for  six  months  ray  horse  was 
kept,  free  of  charge,  by  the  kindness  of  two  of  our  excel- 
lent friends,  we  preceded  in  a  northerly  direction,  through 
Princeton,  Somerville,  Stanhope,  Newton,  and  Branchville, 
toward  Orange  county.  New  York.  That  portion  of  New 
Jersey  is  fertile  and  very  pleasing  in  its  landscape  appear- 
ances. It  is  diversified  by  abrupt  limestone  hills,  lovely 
plains  of  great  extent,  and  a  horizon  of  mountains  on  its 
northern  and  western  quarters. 

At  Branchville,  Nancy  took  the  stage  for  your  father's, 
and  I  prosecuted  my  way  alone.  I  need  not  tell  you  how 
warmly  I  was  received  by  our  old  friends.  Judge  Bell  and 


338         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

his  wife.  Nor  need  I  say  how  largely  my  meetings  were 
attended  throughout  that  region.  Despite  the  brevity  of 
the  notices  and  the  nighls,  1  had  alv/ays  as  many  hearers 
as  the  houses  I  preached  in  could  accommodate.  I  shook 
hands  with  many  friends  there,  at  whose  fire-sides  we  have 
sat  together  in  days  of  yore. 

Poor  Davy,  from  some  cause,  I  know  not  what,  for  I 
had  driven  him  very  carefully,  became  so  lame  that  I  was 
compelled  to  borrow  another  horse  with  which  to  fulfill  my 
engagements  in  Orange  county.  Misfortunes,  every  body 
knows,  always  come  in  troops:  they  are  gregarious.  On 
the  night  of  my  arrival  at  Centreville,  New  York,  my 
borrowed  horse  left  the  pasture  into  which  he  had  been 
turned,  and  1  had  to  borrow  a  second  on  Sunday  morning 
to  convey  me  to  my  meetings.  One  of  these  was  at  Mount 
Hope,  where  I  put  up  v/ith  Mr.  Dodge,  of  whose  hospital- 
ity I  had  more  than  once  partaken  aforetime;  and  you 
with  me,  if  I  mistake  not.  It  was  three  days  ere  I  found 
my  stray,  and  the  ill-mannered  brute  subjected  me  to 
nintey  miles  extra  travel  by  his  silly  freak:  but  then, 
Ruthy,  it  might  so  easily  have  been  worse,  that  I  felt 
thankful  it  turned  out  as  well  as  it  did. 

To  Monticello,  where  was  my  next  appointment,  there 
are  two  routes  from  Branchville.  Neither  of  them  is 
quite  smooth  enough  for  a  race-course.  I  chose  the  one 
over  the  mountain  to  the  Delaware  river,  over  against 
Milford,  thence  up  the  river  to  Fort  Jarvis,  thence  up 
the  Mamakating  creek  to  Wurtsboro — I  vouch  not  for 
the  orthography  of  any  Indian  names,  mind  you — at  which 
place  said  creek,  and  the  Delaware  and  Hudson  canal 
which  runs  along  it,  are  crossed  by  the  Coshocton  and 
Great  Bend  turnpike.  A  stupendous  mountainous  region 
will  the  traveler  find  about  there,  believe  me,  and  a  charm- 
ingly fertile  region  too,  if  rocks,  scrub-oaks,  gravel  and 
whortleberries  denote  fertility.  Without  a  doubt,  it  might 
be  emigrated  to  with  advantage  by  rattle-snakes,  desirous 
of  an  undisturbed  retreat  for  themselves  and  progenies 
for  some  centuries  to  come.  The  country  about  Monti- 
cello,  however,  though  cold,  and  of  thin  soil,  is  well 
watered,  and  finely  adapted  to  dairying  and  the  raising  of 
cattle. 

I  found  the  remembrance  of  my  adventure  at  the  camp- 
meeting,  to  be  as  fresh  about  there  as  though  it  had  trans- 
pired but  yesterday.     It  was  a  novel  affair  for  a  Univer- 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  339 

salist  preacher  to  be  admitted  to  argue  his  cause  on  a 
camp-ground,  and  on  the  last  day  of  the  meeting  too, 
when  they  usually  aim  to  produce  their  greatest  effect! 

I  next  proceeded  to  cross  into  Pennsylvania,  and  on  to 
Honesdale.  The  latter  is  getting  to  be  a  large  and  hand- 
some village;  and  that  portion  of  the  State,  despite  its 
broken,  cold,  and  forbidding  character,  is  getting  to  be 
well  settled  and  improved.  Prompton  has  swollen  into 
the  dimensions  of  a  village.  It  was  a  densely  wooded 
vale  when  I  first  knew  ii;  and  when  we  first  visited  old 
Mr.  Jenkins  there,  Ruthy,  it  little  looked  as  if  his  lone 
dwelling  was  soon  to  be  surrounded  by  a  huddle  of  some 
thirty  or  forty.  As  little  likelihood  was  there,  when  the 
gospel  of  a  world's  salvation  was  first  preached  there 
by  your  nice  little  husband,  that  a  temple  was  soon  to 
arise  on  that  unpromising  spot,  dedicated  to  God  as  the 
Father  and  Savior  of  all  I 

Thence  I  proceeded,  by  the  way  of  Bethany  and  Mount 
Pleasant,  toward  our  old  home  in  Susquehanna  county.  I 
tarried  three  weeks  there,  preaching  on  the  Sabbaths, 
and  on  several  evenings.  It  was  cheering  to  see  how  our 
cause  was  prospering  there.  Three  beautiful  meeting- 
houses now  represent  its  physical  condition,  instead  of  the 
one  which,  when  we  first  went  there,  was  not  only  alone 
with  respect  to  that  county,  but  also  with  respect  to  the 
whole  northern  region  of  Pennsylvania.  With  our  old 
friends.  Dr.  Streeter's  folks,  Col.  Bailey's,  Richard  Wil- 
liams', Walter  Follet's,  Thomas  Tingley's,  etc.,  etc.;  oh! 
but  I  stirred  up  happy  memories! 

Next  to  Bradford  county,  where  I  lingered  still  longer. 
A  sick  man  and  a  lame  horse  could  hardly  be  risked  in 
a  race  wilh  a  railroad  car.  I  called  oft  at  Dr.  Scott's, 
in  Towanda,  and  had  several  interviews  with  Julia.  She 
made  many  affectionate  inquiries  about  you.  1  regarded 
those  interviews  as  the  last  we  should  ever  have  together 
on  this  side  of  heaven.  She  is  very  far  gone,  Kuthy; 
her  earthly  harp  will  soon  be  dumb,  and  she  be  called 
to  make  one  in  the  choir  of  God's  temple  above.  She 
got  me  to  sing  her  one  of  my  poor  effusions,  which,  if  I 
remember  aright,  I  composed  at  her  father's  some  eight 
years  before.  She  paid  me  the  compliment  to  say,  that 
no  hymn  within  her  remembrance  ever  fell  so  soothingly 
upon  her  feelings.  It  must  surely  have  been  owing  to 
some    mysterious  associations  which   it  awakened,  for  it 


340         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

certainly  has  no  such  high  merit  in  itself.     It  is  the  hymn 
beginning, 

''  Oh  Zion  arise  I  in  thy  glory  appear, 
Thy  garments  of  beauty  put  on!  " 

She  tells  me  that  she  has  entrusted  to  a  certain  female 
friend,  a  sister  poetess,  the  publication,  after  her  decease, 
of  such  of  her  poems  as  she  shall  judge  meet  to  spread 
before  the  public  eye. 

The  locale  of  my  poor  story  of  Alice  Sherwood,  is 
undergoing  such  alterations  as  bid  fair  to  strip  it  of  the 
only  merit  it  can  claim :  I  mean  fidelity  of  description. 
Between  Universalia  and  the  Point,  the  Narrows  no  longer 
are  visible.  The  rocky  esplanade  that  bore  that  name, 
and  which  was  formerly  the  only  path  between  the  two 
places,  is  now  wholly  abandoned,  and  a  new  road  is 
formed  by  excavation  in  the  mountain  side,  which  over- 
looks its  humble  predecessor,  from  a  height  of  nearly 
two-hundred  feet.  The  new  road  is  as  fancifully  over- 
arched by  the  spreading  tops  of  young  chesnut  trees,  as 
poet  could  wish  it;  and,  at  this  season,  these  have  carpeted 
it  with  their  falling  foliage.  A  more  bold  and  romantic 
terrace,  and  at  the  same  time  more  safe,  I  remember  not 
to  have  ever  passed  over.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river,  the  whole  breadth  of  the  diluvial  formation  is  spread 
out  under  the  eye,  comprising  the  very  pretty  village  of 
Athens,  or  Tioga  Point,  while  the  stream  itself  rolls  like 
a  tide  of  molten  glass  between. 

I  went  up  the  Chemung  river  to  Elmira,  and  was  a 
guest  i-here  with  our  old  friend,  Collingwood ;  also  to  Dag- 
gett's Mills;  Fairport,  or  Horseheads,  as  they  used  to  call 
it  in  our  time;  to  Cooney  Hollow,  Oswego,  Ithica,  Caro- 
line, etc.,  etc.  In  shire-towns  1  invariably  found  less  of  a 
disposition  to  hear  our  doctrine,  than  in  rural  districts. 
Lawyers  and  politicians  are  seldom  troubled  with  enough 
of  religious  principle  to  dispose  them  to  submit  to  sacri- 
fices in  its  behalf.  It  was  so  in  Christ's  days,  also;  and 
the  venerable  Wesley  had  reason  to  complain  on  the 
same  ground,  when  Methodism  was  young  and  feeble. 
To  a  solitary  lawyer  who  attached  himself  to  one  of  his 
societies,  he  gave  the  sobriquet  of  "  the  white  crow  " — but 
he  backslid  after  awhile,  and  proved  himself  to  be  a  bird 
of  another  color.  Methodism  is  popular  now,  and  crows 
of  this  sort  are  not  scarce  in  that  cornfield. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  341 

From  Utica,  whither  I  went  from  Elmira,  it  would  seem 
a  good  and  loyal  husband  should  have  kept  directly  on  to- 
ward home,  instead  of  retracing  his  steps  ior  a  hundred 
miles  or  so  back  to  Bradford  county.  But  then,  Ruthy, 
one  cannot  always  do  what  one  would :  necessity  is 
stronger  than  choice.  In  short,  1  had  become  dreadfully 
embarrassed  in  my  finances,  by  long  illness  and  a  train  of 
mishaps,  and  it  behooved  me,  by  the  sale  of  my  books,  to 
make  every  exertion  for  my  extrication.  Moreover,  I  had 
been  strongly  solicited  by  our  friends  at  Monroeton,^  to  re- 
turn and  dedicate  their  new  meeting-house.  Two  circum- 
stances, in  addition  to  the  one  aforesaid,  induced  me  to 
yield  to  this  request.  First :  I  had  delivered  there,  some 
eight  years  before,  the  first  of  Universalist  preaching  they 
had  ever  heard,  and  I  felt  in  regard  to  our  now  flourishing 
cause  there,  a  sort  of  parental  relation.  And  second  :  The 
Susquehanna  Association  was  to  meet  in  Monroeton  at  the 
time  of  the  dedication.  I  had  been  present  when  that 
body  was  constituted,  just  seven  years  before,  and  had 
never  met  with  it  since.  It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  I 
should  wish  to  do  so  now,  and  to  shake  hands  again  with 
many  of  our  old  friends  which  the  occasion  would  bring 
together. 

I  omitted  to  state,  that  in  passing  from  Elmira  to  Utica, 
I  preached  at  Speedville,  Vestal,  Binghampton,  South 
Bainbridge,  Oxford,  Panther  Hill,  Norwich,  Hamilton,  etc. 
On  the  route  1  counted  forty-one  bridges,  big  and  little, 
which  might  fairly  be  pronounced  impassable!  If  a  bill  of 
mortality  for  horses  were  annually  reported  in  that  re- 
gion, it  would  not  surprise  me  to  learn  that  a  good  propor- 
tion of  them  die  of  broken  necks;  for  the  stranger  finds 
nothing  near  these  dilapidated  bridges  to  caution  him 
against  attempting  their  passage.  He  must  trust  to  his 
own  cautiousness,  and  carry  his  neck  at  his  own  personal 
risk.  But,  I  find  my  letter  is  in  danger  of  assuming  a 
querilous  tone — mayhap,  too,  on  the  score  of  7iecks,  you 
may  think  me  over  sensitive;  and  I  doubtless  am  somewhat 
more  so  than  if  I  had  a  duplicate  of  the  article.  But  as  I 
have  but  one,  I  must  take  the  more  care  of  that,  both  foi 
your  sake,  Ruthy,  and  for  his  also  who  subscribes  himsel 
Yours,  affectionately, 

George  Rogers. 


342         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

Dear  Ruth:  My  last  was  written  from  Monroeton, 
which,  you  know,  is  four  miles  from  Towanda.  Our 
meeting  was  largely  attended,  and  was  a  very  happy  one. 
Mrs.  Scott  was  extremely  desirous  to  be  at  it,  but  her  soul 
is  struggling  hard  for  egress  through  the  bars  of  its  failing 
tabernacle.  I  preached  several  discourses  in  Towanda, 
always  to  large  audiences.  At  Sheshequin  I  was  much  at 
the  house  of  G.  S.  Ames,  whose  little  wife  we  both  like  so 
well.  In  fording  the  Susquehanna  near  there,  the  other 
day,  the  exceeding  transparency  of  the  stream  deceived 
me;  and  I  got  into  so  deep  water,  that  my  horse  had  to 
swim,  and  my  carriage  filled,  so  that  I  got  well  soaked 
up  to  my  knees,  and  many  of  my  books  were  rendered 
useless.  In  the  judgment  of  good  orthodox  people,  they 
doubtless  were  so  before. 

Walter  Bullard  is  as  active  in  those  parts,  as  he  was 
when  we  were  about  there.  He  preaches  every  where, 
knows  every  body,  and  doubtless  has  done  more  than  any 
two  men  besides,  to  diffuse  a  knowledge  of  our  principles 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  that  whole  region. 
I  was  several  times  at  his  house  in  Elmira,  and  he  ac- 
companied me  to  several  places.  J.  T.  Goodrich  is  another 
very  active  and  much  beloved  minister  of  our  faith  in 
those  parts.  His  residence  is  in  the  beautiful  village  of 
Oxford,  where  I  was  several  times  his  guest. 

Poor  Davy  became  so  lame  at  Tov/anda,  that  I  could 
proceed  no  farther  with  him;  so,  as  he  had  done  me  good 
and  faithful  service  for  several  years,  I  determined  to  give 
him  a  gentlemanly  keeping  through  the  winter,  and  pro- 
cure another  with  which  to  come  home.  But  how,  and 
wherewithal  should  I  get  another?  Well,  at  that  juncture, 
William  M.  Delong,  of  Binghampton,  was  so  obliging  as  to 
be  out  of  health,  and  to  need  on  that  account  a  removal 
to  a  less  rigorous  climate.  It  was  therefore  arranged  that 
we  should  get  a  horse  between  us,  and  he  should  take  a 
seat  in  my  carriage. 

We  were  in  doubt,  for  a  v/hile  as  to  our  best  route; 
whether  to  take  the  ridge  road  along  the  southern  shore 
of  Lake  Erie,  and  so  homeward  by  a  diagonal  course 
through  Ohio,  or  to  take  the  lower  route,  across  the  south- 
ernmost counties  of  New  York,  and  thence  follow  the 
course  of  the  Allegheny  river  to  Pittsburg.  By  either, 
the  distance  was  at  least  seven  hundred  miles  to  Cincin- 
nati; and  late  in  the  fall  as  it  was,  we  had  not  the  pleas- 


OF  A    UNIVEESALIST  PREACHER  343 

antest  prospects  before  us  as  to  the  character  of  the  roads. 
We  chose  the  latter,  in  the  expectation  that  it  would  prove 
the  less  muddy,  as  it  passed  through  a  nnore  mountainous 
region. 

Our  first  stop  was  near  Havana,  where  we  both  preach- 
ed on  a  Sabbath.  In  ascending  from  the  village  of  that 
name,  to  the  mountain  which  forms  the  western  boundary 
of  the  low  plain  in  which  it  lies,  the  traveler  passes  over 
a  bridge  that  hangs,  in  part,  immediately  over  a  chasm 
some  two  hundred  feet  in  depth.  It  is  somewhat  startling  to 
stand  on  that  bridge  and  look  down  upon  the  village  and  the 
plain,  and  to  get  therefrom — as  you  can  of  a  fair  day — a 
glimpse  of  tho  blue  waters  of  SenecaLake.  Meanwhile,  a 
cascade  is  pouring  down  the  sides  of  the  chasm  beneath 
you,  which  of  itself  is  no  mean  object  to  contemplate. 

We  thence  passed  on  through  Bath  to  Kennedyviile, 
where,  if  you  remember,  we  once  attended  a  meeting  of 
the  Steuben  Association.  W^e  each  preached  an  evening 
there  to  good  congregations.  Thence  we  continued  on 
through  the  counties  of  Cataraugiis,  Allegheny,  and  part 
of  Chatauque.  Hill  succeeded  to  hill  in  an  interminable 
series:  as  to  levels,  the  inhabitants  of  that  country  may 
have  heard  of  such  things,  but  of  a  surety  they  see  nothing 
of  them.  No  sooner  is  the  business  of  climbing,  over,  than 
immediately  begins  that  of  descent,  and  then  the  climbing 
recommences.  Well,  our  practice  was,  to  reach  some  vil- 
lage toward  evening,  and  to  lose  no  time  in  effecting 
arrangements  for  a  meeting  there.  In  no  single  in- 
stance did  we  fail  to  succeed.  We  passed  our  second 
Sunday  at  Ellicottville — a  ville  at  which  I  am  not  solicitous 
to  spend  another.  On  leaving  there  next  morning,  we 
looked  down  upon  it  from  the  top  of  a  very  high  and  steep 
hill,  by  which  it  is  overlooked  on  the  west,  and  we  thought 
we  could  sympathize,  somewhat,  in  the  joy  of  Lot,  at  his  es- 
cape from  Sodom.  We  had  found  it,  as  we  thought,  as 
very  a  sink-hole  of  bigotry  and  intolerance  as  a  narrow 
theology  and  priestly  rule  could  make  it. 

One  of  our  evening  meetings  (and  an  exceedingly  crowd- 
ed one)  was  held  at  Jamestown;  which  is  a  thriving  vil- 
lage near  the  head  of  Chatauque  Lake.  You  may  know  its 
situation  to  be  high,  and  consequently  its  climate  to  be 
cold,  from  the  circumstance  of  that  lake's  being  the  most 
elevated  sheet  of  water  on  the  American  continent.  Its 
length  is  about  twenty  miles,  if  I  remember  aright.     From 


344         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

that  region,  vast  quantities  of  pine  boards  and  shingles  are 
floated  down  the  Allegheny  to  Pittsburg,  and  thence  down 
the  Ohio  to  Cincinnati  and  Louisville — being  a  distance  of 
some  seven  or  eight  hundred  miles  in  all. 

We  each  delivered  a  discourse  on  the  same  evening, 
at  Jamestown.  Mine  was  strictly  argumentative.  When 
I  was  about  to  close  it,  a  gentleman  in  the  audience  ex- 
claimed, emphatically,  and  by  way  of  objection  to  its  sen- 
timents, 

"5m^,  sir,  your  doctrine  is  7iot  popular ?'' 

"No,"  answered  1,  "it  is  not  popular,  of  a  certainty.  It 
was  not  so  when  Christ  and  his  apostles  preached  it, — as 
I  conceive  they  did — nor  have  truth,  benevolence,  nor 
the  principles  of  human  rights,  ever  yet  been  popular,  so 
far  as  history  teaches.  Nor  are  they  likely  to  be,  so  long 
as  ignorance,  and  corruption,  and  superstition  continue,  as 
now,  to  hold  tyranous  sway  over  the  intellect  and  heart 
of  humanity.  But,  my  friends,  when  light  shall  have  dif- 
fused itself  over  the  earth;  when  the  affections  and  moral 
principles  of  mankind  shall  have  emancipated  themselves 
from  the  ciiOiralling  influence  of  mystic  and  cruel  creeds; 
then  shall  the  principles  of  truth  and  benevolence  be  pop- 
ular among  men;  and  for  that  result  we  are  laboring." 

From  Jamestown,  we  kept  down  the  Allegheny  valley 
to  Warren,  Pa.,  which  is  a  pretty  town,  on  an  exceedingly 
pretty  site,  and  seat  of  justice  for  the  county  of  that  name. 
We  preached  an  evening  there,  and  another  about  twenty 
miles  south  of  there,  at  the  house  of  a  cousin  of  my  travel- 
ing companion,  of  whom  he  accidentally  learned  by  the  way. 
And  it  was  lucky  he  did;  for  a  tempestuous  snow-storm  en- 
sued while  we  were  there,  and  it  is  no  inconvenient  thing 
to  harbor  at  a  cousin's  in  such  circumstances.  Thence 
we  kept  still  down  the  Allegheny,  to  Butlerville,  where 
French  creek — a  large  and  deep  stream — falls  into  the 
former.  The  valley,  which  above  was  narrow,  has  at  this 
point  a  tolerable  breadth,  with  hills  inclining  to  it  in  easy 
slopes.  We  there  climbed  the  hills,  and  saw  nothing  far- 
ther of  the  river  until  our  road  again  fell  upon  the  right 
shore  of  it  within  a  few  miles  of  Pittsburg. 

Our  hearts  beat  gladly  as  we  approached  that  murky 
metropolis,  through  its  picturesque  environs  and  summer- 
seats.  The  most  dreaded  part  of  our  route  was  now  past; 
that  on  which  we  had  expected  to  be  most  embarrassed 
with  bad  roads;  but  the  season,  fortunately  for  us,  has  been 


DP   A   UNlVfiRSALIST   PREACHER.  S45 

tnild  past  all  remembrance.  It  is  needless  to  gay  how  cor* 
tiially  we  were  received  at  Pittsburg  by  Manning  Hull 
-and  his  wife;  whom,  for  their  untiring  and  liberal  devotion 
to  the  truth,  may  Heaven  bless  !  and  our  earliest  and 
■ever  zealous  patron  in  that  city,  Ephraim  Frisbee,  who 
now  lives  on  an  island  three  miles  below.  May  the  calm 
of  soul,  which  only  the  consciousness  of  well-doing  can 
impart,  be  the  lot  of  himself  and  his  partner  now  and 
evermore! 

From  the  mouth  of  Short  creek,  where  we  now  are,  (and 
which  is  seventy  miles  below  Pittsburg,  and  nine  above 
Wheeling,)  it  is  but  a  short  nine  miles  to  the  N-ational  turn* 
pike,  and  thence  about  two  hundred  and  thirty  miles  to  Cin- 
cinnati. The  rain,  which  we  so  much  dreaded  while  we 
were  among  the  mud  roads,  begins  now  to  pour  down  as  if 
it  meant  to  avenge  itself  for  its  long  delay.  It  has  our  per- 
mission to  pour  as  hard  as  it  will,  as  it  cannot  impede  our 
progress  now.  We  are  holding  some  evening  meetings 
here  in  the  village  of  Warrenton,  where  at  present  resides 
our  old  and  steadfast  friend  Doctor  Tibbetts.  Some  years 
■ago  I  was  the  first  who,  in  this  region,  lifted  up  the  voice 
for  gospel  truth:  there  now  are  several  staunch  believers 
here,  of  first-rate  character  and  influence;  and  an  excellent 
■field  for  gospel  labor  would  this  region  prove,  I  think,  to  a 
•laborer  who  possessed  the  right  qualities  for  the  work. 

This  letter,  Ruthy,  will  but  a  little  outstrip  us,  I  hope, 
in  the  race  for  the  Queen  City.  Oh!  how  the  distance 
will  lenofthen  to  mv  imao:ination,  as  it  shall  shorten  in  reali- 
ty!  Such,  in  his  homeward  journeyings,  is  ever  the  ex- 
perience of 

Yours  most  affectionately,  Gbo.  Rogers. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Re-visits  Louisiana  once  more,  and  diverges  to  St.  Louis  in  his 
way — Reflections  on  Slavery,  and  a  scheme  of  Progressive  Eman- 
cipation— Attends  the  Indiana  State  Convention — Compiles  a 
Hymn  Book,  for  denominational  use  in  public  worship. 

On  my- arrival  at  home,  and  for  sometime  thereafter,  my 
health  seemed,  from  the  cause  aforenamed,  to  have  under- 
gone a  shock  from  which  it  was  not  likely  soon  to  recover. 
Indeed,  I  seriously  apprehended  that  the  active  period  of 
23 


346.        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

my  life  was  irrevocably  past:  and  even  several  good  phy- 
sicians assured  me  to  the  same  effect,  except  1  would  cease 
from  my  labors  for  a  considerable  time,  and  submit  to  a 
rigorous  course  of  medical  treatment.  It  chanced,  how- 
ever, that  a  Homoeopathic  physician  fell  in  my  way,  and  I 
was  induced  (with  no  faith  whatever  in  their  efficacy)  to 
experiment  with  his  remedies.  The  result  was,  that  in  a 
week's  time  1  was  perfectly  recovered,  and  I  have  experi- 
enced no  symptoms  of  a  return  of  the  malady  from  that 
time  to  this!  Account  how  you  will  for  this,  reader,  it  was 
a  most  surprising  event;  and,  for  me,  a  most  welcome  one, 
truly.  1  was  now  in  a  state  to  push  forth  once  more  into 
distant  fields  of  labor,  and  as  1  had  received  pressing  invi- 
tations to  renew  my  visits  to  Louisiana,  I  set  out  on  that 
excursion  in  January,  1842. 

My  first  two  Sundays  from  home  were  spent  at  Louis- 
ville, where  W.  W.  Dean  was  then  our  resident  minister; 
and  in  the  intermediate  week  1  delivered  several  evening  dis- 
courses at  New  Albany.  The  latter  is  a  brisk  little  city, 
immediately  below  the  falls  of  the  Ohio,  on  the  Indiana  side. 
On  the  opposite  shore  is  Shippensport,  where  boats  enter 
the  canal,  cut  to  avoid  the  rapids  of  the  river.  As  it 
usually  takes  a  boat  a  couple  of  hours  to  get  to  Louisville 
by  that  method,  passengers  generally  prefer  to  perform 
the  distance  in  hackney  coaches,  which,  at  a  charge  of 
twenty-five  cents  each,  takes  them  thither  in  about  twen- 
ty minutes.  A  right  stirring  and  interesting  scene  is  that 
thereabout,  believe  me,  and  as  full  of  beauty  is  it  as  of 
various  life  and  motion.  So  often  have  I  greeted  it  with  a 
leaping  heart  after  a  long  absence  at  the  South;  so  entire- 
ly at  home  have  1  felt  myself,  on  landing  thither — though 
yet  not  really  so  by  one  hundred  and  forty  miles — that 
i  have  learned  to  love  it  right  well,  and  shall  do  so  for- 
ever. 

From  Louisville  I  took  boat  for  St.  Louis.  The  distance 
between  the  two  places  is  over  six  hundred  miles  by  water- 
scarcely  half  of  that  by  land.  I  tarried  in  that  rapidly 
growing  city  for  a  month,  preaching  to  large  audiences  on 
Sabbaths,  and  on  several  intervening  evenings.  1  should 
think  that  my  congregation  frequently  comprised  six  hun- 
dred persons,  and  those  of  very  respectable  character  in 
General.  St.  Louis  occupies  a  gently  rising  slope  from  the 
river,  whence  nearly  every  building  in  it  is  in  plain  sighL 
Nearly  the  whole  street  along  the  river  is  built  of  hewn 


OF    JL   UNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  347 

stone,  in  good  substantial  style;  and,  on  the  whole,  the 
city  presents  a  spectacle  of  much  boldness  and  beauty  to 
one  approaching  it  from  below. 

The  Mississippi,  from  where  it  is  joined  by  the  Missouri, 
is  as  far  as  possible  from  being  a  beautiful  stream,  except 
for  nearly  two  hundred  miles  from  its  emboschure,  and 
there  it  is  rendered  so  by  its  confinement  within  artificial 
embankments,  and  the  adornment  of  its  shores  with  gar- 
dens, sugar  plantations,  and  numerous  tasteful  and  pictu- 
resque edifices.  But  from  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri  down 
to  considerably  below  Natchez,  (a  distance  of  twelve  hun- 
dred miles,)  it  is  a  turbid  and  unsightly  stream,  with  low, 
thickly  wooded,  unvarying  shores,  inhabited  sparsely  by 
sallow-faced  people,  who  manifest  a  semi-barbarous  indif- 
ference to  refinement  in  manners,  and  taste  in  the  structure 
of  their  tenements.  The  river  was  in  a  very  swollen  state 
when  I  descended  it  from  St.  Louis.  A  large  proportion  of 
the  wretched  hovels  we  passed  were  completely  surrounded 
with  water,  and  had  the  appearance  of  having  been  built 
on  piles  in  the  midst  of  the  river.  The  poor  dogs  had  to 
shelter  themselves  within  doors,  and  dispute  the  chimney 
corner  with  Tabby  and  Scratch.  The  fowls  had  no  means 
of  locomotion  but  by  flying  from  tree  to  tree,  and  from 
the  trees  to  the  housetops;  and  the  inhabitants  could  only 
communicate  with  each  other,  and  with  terra  firma,  by 
means  of  canoes.  It  required  no  deep  acquaintance  with 
Hebrew  and  Greek  to  account  how  these  people  came  by 
their  sallow  complexions. 

We  had  to  put  out  a  passenger,  and  a  drove  of  mules, 
at  a  plantation  on  the  Arkansas  side  of  the  river.  This 
passenger,  and  owner  of  the  mules,  had  bought  a  female 
negro  during  the  passage,  of  a  person  who  had  a  drove  of 
that  sort  of  cattle,  which  he  was  taking  to  sell  in  Louisiana. 
The  poor  negress  had  a  sister  in  the  gang  whom  she  was 
very  desirous  of  having  purchased  with  herself;  but  the 
sum  demanded  for  her  arose,  as  is  usual,  as  the  disposition 
to  buy  her  manifested  itself,  andthetrafic  for  her  therefore 
failed  of  being  effected.  I  know  not  when  I  was  more 
pained  by  a  spectacle  in  the  course  of  my  life,  than  when 
that  solitary  female  was  landed,  on  a  strip  of  artificial  em- 
bankment, scarcely  a  foot  in  width,  beyond  which  the  riv- 
er extended  for  an  eighth  of  a  mile,  and  was  left  standing 
there,  while  her  purchaser  waded  with  his  mules  to  the 


348        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRATELS 

dry  land.  Poor  desolate  girl!  She  knew  not  into  what 
sort  of  hands  she  had  fallen;  nor  knew  she  to  what  sort  of 
work,  or  degraded  uses,  she  was  doomed  to  be  put;  nor  how 
her  sister  was  to  be  disposed  of;  nor  whether  she  was  like- 
ly ever  to  naeet  with  her  again.  As  the  boat  moved  off, 
and  the  waves  it  stirred  up  rolled  over  the  feet  of  that 
poor  slave,  standing,  as  she  seemed  to  do,  in  the  midst  of 
the  river,  my  heart  sickened  within  me;  and  in  anguish  of 
soul  I  asked  the  righteous  God,  how  long  this  shadow  of 
his  wrath  was  still  to  darken  our  land?  This  shadow  of  his 
wrath,  1  say — for  just  Heaven  has  coupled  an  almost  in- 
sufferable curse  with  that  vice  of  slaveholding,  which  Wtis 
meant  by  men  to  minister  to  their  sloth  and  luxury. 

We  stopped  one  night  in  that  same  vicinity  to  take  in 
wood.  The  owner  of  the  wood-yard  informed  me  of  a 
case  of  lynching  that  had  recently  occurred  there,  which, 
had  it  taken  place  at  Cape  Blanco,  or  anywhere  along  the 
Barbary  coast,  would  have  been  in  good-keeping  with  the 
order  of  civilization  which  prevails  there.  About  sixteen 
persons,  charged  with  belonging  to  a  gang  of  counterfeit- 
ers who  had  long  infested  that  region,  were  made  to  cast 
themselves  in  the  river  from  the  end  of  a  plank,  having 
previously  been  bound  hand  and  foot  to  prevent  them 
from  swimming!  Eight  others  were  a  few  days  subsequent 
served  in  a  similar  way.  Thus  were  twenty-four  human 
beings,  after  a  summary  and  of  course  very  partial  trial, 
hurried  into  eternity  without  the  sympathy,  or  time  for 
preparation,  afforded  to  murderers  and  pirates!  Our  in- 
formant had  ventured  to  remonstrate  against  this  proceed- 
ing, and  for  that  cause  was  threatened  with  a  similar  fate. 
If  the  reader  should  be  hereby  tempted  to  emigrate  to 
that  beautiful  realm  of  justice  and  humanity,  I  can  de- 
scribe the  locale  for  him  to  a  nicety. 

I  was  put  out  in  the  yawl  at  Fort  Hudson,  about  mid- 
night. This,  on  western  waters,  is  usually  a  hurried  op- 
peration.  They  landed  me,  they  knew  not  whither,  and 
cared  as  little.  Indeed,  it  was  so  pitch  dark,  that  no  ob- 
jects were  distinguishable.  I  knew  the  town  stood  on  a 
table  of  land  some  eighty  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
river;  but  how  to  ascend  the  perpendicular  bluff,  I  knew 
not,  nor  was  I  acquainted  with  its  precise  character.  I 
therefore  stood  on  the  spot  where  they  landed  me,  for 
some  time,  without  moving  in  any  direction,  in  the  hope 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  349 

that  when  my  eyes  had   accommodated  themselves  to  the 
medium  of  vision,  I  should  be  enabled  to  "define  my  posi- 
tion,'^  in  some  sort.     But  for  that  purpose,  as  the  night 
was  cloudy,  the  darkness  was  too  intense.     1  next  poked 
about  with  my  umbrella,  as  a  blind-man  with  his  staff,  to 
ascertain  the  nature  of  the  premises.     1  soon  found  that 
the   ground    had  been    scooped    into    deep    fissures,  and 
abounded  with  pits  of  slime  and  quick-sand.     Having  no 
particular   inclination    for    a  souse   into  one  of  these,   I 
crouched  down  into  a  crevice,  and,  spreading  my  umbrella 
over   me  to  ward  off*  the  mist  that  was  falling,  I  slept  in 
that  situation  for  one  hour  or  so,  till  the  pattering  of  the 
rain  on  my  umbrella  aroused  me,  and  I  found  myself  stiff* 
from    the   cold    and   humidity.      I    therefore    arose    and 
walked  to  and  fro  over  a  few  feet  of  ground,  which,  by 
fumbling,  1  had  ascertained  to  be  safe,  until  the  gray  dawn 
enabled  me  to  discover  an   inclined   rail-track  by  which 
cotton  bales  are  slid  down  into  steamboats  at  that  point. 
With  some  difficulty  and  danger,  for  it  was  wet  with  the 
rain  and   slippery,  1  crept  up  this  on   my  hands  and  feet, 
and  made  my  way  to  the   hotel,  where  1  was  charged  fifty 
cents  for  a  bed  until  breakfast  time,  which  was  little  bet- 
ter than  my  crevice   under  the  bluff*,  for  the  damp  wind 
blew  directly  on  me  through   the  glassless  windows;  and 
the    latchless  door,   by  its  creaking  and  slamming,  kept 
up  a  continual  remonstrance  against  any  attempt  at  sleep. 
From  Port  Hudson  there  is  a  railroad  to  Clinton,  which 
is  distant  from   it  in   an  interior    direction    about  thirty 
miles.     No   part  of  Louisiana  is  comparable  to   that  for 
beauty  and  fertility.     It  is  also  of  an  undulating  surface, 
and  beautifully  wooded.     One  experiences  an  unspeakable 
delight  on  being  landed  there  in  one  of  the  latter  winter 
months,  after  a  rapid  transit  from  the  frigid  North,  where 
all  is  gray  and  leafless;  and  one  is  suddenly  greeted  with 
the  caroling  of  happy  birds  which  are  luxuriating  among 
green  leaves  and  fragrant  blossoms;  and  the  green  buds 
are  seen  to  peep  forth  in  the  forest,  and  the  sweet  voice 
and  breath  of  Spring  greet  the  senses  in  all  directions.     I 
have  several  times  experienced  this  enjoyment,  and  it  is 
one  more  easily  felt  than  described.     Yet,  let  none  infer 
hence,  that  Nature  has  more  favored  the  South  than  the 
North.     Not  so:    She  has  dealt  her  favors  and  disfavors 
over  the  earth  with  a  tolerably  even  hand;  for,  let  one  go 
to  that  same  South,  when  it  is  Spring-time  with  us,  and  he 


350         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

will  find  the  heat  to  have  already  become  insupportable. 
The  face  of  the  earth  will  present  a  yellowish  hue,  dusty 
and  hot  in  appearance,  which  will  cause  the  unaccustomed 
eye  to  long  for  a  vision  of  green  meadows,  and  the  ear  to 
long  for  the  chime  of  tinkling  rills,  which  tell  of  whole- 
some coolness  in  the  shades  whence  they  flow.  For  in 
far-southern  realms  holds  literally  true  the  language  of 
an  inspired  apostle,  "  The  sun  is  no  sooner  risen  with  a 
burning  heat  than  it  wilhereth  the  grass,  and  the  flower 
thereof  falleth,  and  the  grace  of  the  fashion  of  it  perish- 
eth." 

I  spent  some  two  months  in  that  part  of  Louisiana,  and 
parts  of  Mississippi  adjoining.  As  in  the  former,  few  re- 
gions are  more  beautiful  than  are  the  parishes  of  East  and 
West  Feliciana;  so  in  the  latter,  few  are  more  dreary  than 
is  the  county  of  Amite,  of  which  Liberty  is  the  capital. 
The  latter  is  one  unvarying  domain  of  tall  pines,  any 
one  of  which  looks  like  any  other  throughout  the  forest. 
And  to  travel  through  those  barren  solitudes  for  a  score  of 
miles  together,  as  I  have  done,  without  meeting  a  house  or 
an  object  to  vary  the  dull  monotony,  and  the  sun  burning 
down  on  one  with  almost  tropical  fierceness,  meanwhile,  is 
by  no  means  a  pastime  much  to  be  desired. 

I  was  walking  near  the  environs  of  Liberty,  with  my 
friend.  Dr.  Caulfield,  when  I  pointed  to  a  neater  tenement 
than  is  usual  in  that  country,  and  inquired  who  was  its 
owner.     His  answer,  substantially,  was  as  follows: 

The  man  for  whom  that  house  was  built,  terminated  his 
life  by  suicide!  He  seemed  for  a  time  to  be  a  fair  and  hon- 
orable man;  the  people  wondered  at  the  rapid  increase  of 
his  wealth,  without  at  all  suspecting  him  of  dishonesty  in 
the  means.  He  displayed,  as  you  see,  an  uncommon  degree 
of  taste  in  the  arrangement  and  fitting  up  of  his  buildings 
and  premises  and  had  apparently  prepared  himself  to 
enjoy  a  life  of  luxurious  ease  and  plenty  at  this  pleasant 
home.  Unluckily  for  his  plans,  however,  a  stranger  hap- 
pened to  come  into  the  parts  who  knew  him,  and  who 
accused  him  of  being  concerned  in  an  extensive  counter- 
feiting of  money.  The  accused  denied  most  vehemently 
the  truth  of  this  report,  and  requested  that  the  accuser 
would  meet  him  in  an  adjoining  woods,  very  early  on  a 
certain  morning,  when  he  would  fully  satisfy  him  that  he 
was  mistaken  in  the  person.  The  latter  promised  to  yield 
the  meeting  required;  but,  suspecting  that  foul  play  was 


OF   A    UNIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  ^1 

premeditated  toward  himself,  he  went  accompanied  by 
several  citizens.  Meanwhile,  the  accused  was  on  the 
ground  long  beforehand,  waiting  his  coming  with  great 
impatience — he  had  been  up,  indeed,  as  his  household  tes- 
tified, and  was  in  great  agitation  the  whole  night  preced- 
ing. When,  however,  he.  saw  his  intended  victim  to  be 
strongly  accompanied,  he  returned  to  his  house,  and  dis- 
charged into  his  own  vitals  the  pistol  which  he  had  evi- 
dently loaded  for  the  murder  of  his  accuser. 

How  veritably  saith  the  wise  king,  and  how  slow,  never- 
theless, is  man  to  believe  him,  that  ^Hhe  way  of  the  trans- 
gressor is  hard!''''* 

Ah!  how  many  a  Northern  parson,  burning  with  a  de- 
sire to  save  souls,  has  had  his  ardor  cooled  amid  the  sordid- 
ness  and  scepticism  of  the  South!  How  many  an  one  has 
bartered  his  profession — yea,  and  his  religion  to  boot — 
for  the  land  and  cotton-fields  of  a  wealthy  widow!  I  have 
direct  knowledge  of  full  a  score  of  such.  Mammon,  me- 
thinks,  has  nowhere  more  numerous  nor  more  devout  ador- 
ers, than  in  the  South-western  States.  In  the  very  air  of 
that  region  there  seems  an  influence  antagonistic  to  true 
piety.  Even  the  well  catechised  Yankee  forgets  his  creed 
on  going  thither,  and  adopts,  instead,  the  decalogue  of  the 
Golden  Calf.  To  the  two  general  truth  of  this  last  re- 
mark, however,  I  must  needs  aver,  there  are  many  charm- 
ing exceptions;  and  these  mainly  hold  in  respect  to  Yan- 
kees of  our  faith,  who  form,  at  present,  our  almost  only 
ground  of  dependence  for  success  in  the  South. 

When  the  term  of  my  labors  in  that  part  of  Louisiana 
had  expired,  I  took  boat  from  Port  Hudson  for  New  Or- 
leans, with  no  purpose  of  tarrying  there,  but  mainly  for 

*This  incident  reminds  me  that,  on  an  excursion  near  Cincinnati, 
some  time  since,  I  passed  a  little  snugi^ery,  on  what  my  companion 
told  rne  is  called  German  street — from  the  fact  that  several  German 
residences  are  strung  therealong — I  remarked  to  him  on  the  ex- 
treme prettiness,  of  the  little  place  I  refer  to.  It  was  situated  on  a 
green  hill-side;  the  buildings  were  in  a  unique,  picturesque  style; 
the  premises  were  enclosed  with  a  neat  enclosure,  and  all  was 
as  white  as  white-washing  could  make  it.  The  proprietor  of 
that  poetical  little  home  is — where  think  you? — in  the  Colum- 
bus Penitentiary,  for  stealing  I  How  many  an  anguished  thought 
must  he  not  send  from  that  earthly  hell,  to  his  neat  hill-side  snug;- 
gery!  And  how  intense  must  be  his  sensibility  to  the  folly  and 
madness  of  his  bargain,  when  he  bartered  the  certainty  of  virtuous 
happiness  for  the  chance  of  ill-gotten  gain,  with  the  remorse  and 
infamy  which  were  sure  to  follow! 


S52  EXPEKIENCE,    LABORS,   AND    TEAVITLS 

effecting  a  passage  home  on  better  terms  than  I  could  have- 
done  at  the  former  point.  On  western  waters  passage 
may  be  had  more  cheaply  than  on  any  other  line  of  travel 
in  the  United  States,  and,  probably,  in  the  world,  if  they 
he  previously  bargained  for,  but,  mind  you,  that  is  an  essen- 
tial condition  of  their  cheapness.  From  neglect  of  that, 
I  have  found  myself  charged  more  for  a  passage  of  one 
hundred  miles,  than  others  were  for  three  hundred! 

My  arrival  in  New  Orleans  was  on  a  Sunday  morning, 
and  1  went  directly  to  Mr,  Clapp's  church,  and  took  my 
seat  near  the  end  remote  from  the  pulpit.  He  got  his  eye 
on  me,  however,  a>id  coming  to  where  I  sat,  he  prevail- 
ed on  me  to  preach  for  him.  This  was  my  last  sermon  in 
New  Orleans,  to  the  present  time,  and  in  all  probability 
will  be  so  forever.  The  hearing  of  a  sermon  is,  there, 
too  much  a  matter  of  mere  pastime,  for  my  liking;  and 
many  of  those  who  thus  honor  you  with  a  hearing,  in 
the  forenoon,  will  list  with  equal  zest  to  a  play  in  the 
evening.  Heigh,  ho!  I  am  pretty  well  sick  of  my  far- 
southern  labors. 

From  New  Orleans  homeward,  nothing  occurred  worth 
recording.  I  was  neither  run  aground,  run  foul  of,  snag- 
ged, nor  blown  up — all  of  which  I  had  formerly  experi- 
enced to  my  hearts  content.  One  little  accident  did  good 
naturedly  happen,  to  diversify  the  dullness  of  the  passage, 
and  afford  my  quill  a  pretext  for  running  off  into  humor- 
ous description. 

We  had  "come  to"  at  the  foot  of  the  falls  at  Shippens- 
port,  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  it  was  practicable  to 
pass  up  over  the  rapids  to  Louisville,  the  river  being  in 
tolerably  "  high  stage."  Having  ascertained  that  it  was,, 
we  were  in  the  act  of  "  rounding  out,"  when  we  were 
struck  by  a  violent  squall,  which  drove  us  foul  of  another 
boat.  What  particular  thing  had  happened,  the  passen- 
gers, who  were  at  dinner,  to  the  number  of  sixty  or  eighty, 
knew  not;  but  the  crash — crash — crash — long  continued, 
and  increasing  in  loudness,  gave  us  vague  ideas  of  some 
terrible  catastrophe  ;  and  answering  screams  from  the 
ladies  were  not  wanting,  (when  were  they,  ever?)  to  in- 
crease the  din  and  confusion.  Anon  the  table  was  desert- 
ed, chairs  overturned,  crockery  broken,  and  each  of  us 
looking  out  for  our  individual  selves,  in  most  dutiful  con- 
formity to  the  first  law  of  nature.  For  my  own  part,  I 
ivould  like  to  report  that  I  played  the  philosopher  on  the 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  353 

occasion;  but,  in  truth,  having  experiencod  thti'c  steamboats 
can  do  a  great  many  ugly  thiiigs,  1  had  become  mistrustful 
of  them;  and  had  any  one  chanced  to  look  under  the  table 
just  then,  I  could  name  a  certain  little  gentleman  whom 
he  would  have  seen  there,  endeavoring,  as  best  he  could, 
to  keep  himself  out  of  harm's  way,  though  he  knew  not 
precisely  where  that  way  was.  However,  the  matter 
passed  oif  harmlessly  to  all  except  the  boat,  and  even  it 
was  but  little  damaged  in  proportion  to  the  noise  it  had 
occasioned. 

Several  circumstances  had  occurred  to  my  observation 
during  this  journey,  which  tended  more  painfully  to  affect 
me,  in  relation  to  negro  slavery,  than  1  ever  before  had 
been.  Indeed,  slavery  is  an  evil,  the  full  enormity  of 
which,  one  is  not  prepared  to  comprehend,  till  he  has  been 
much  where  it  is;  and  he  then  will  see  perpetually  recur- 
ing  evidences  of  ils  evil  nature  and  bearings. 

I  am  not  an  Abolitionist,  in  the  party  sense  of  that  word. 
I  would  have  the  freedom  of  the  slaves  purchased,  at  a 
fair  sum,  by  the  General  Government — for,  assuredly,  it 
were  an  unjust  measure  to  require  their  surrender  without 
an  equitable  compensation  to  the  masters.  1  would  also 
have  the  negroes  colonized  on  a  domain  by  themselves. 
This  measure  I  would  insist  upon,  not  for  any  repugnance 
T  bear  to  the  race,  but  from  motives  of  humanity  toward 
them:  for,  assuredly,  it  would  be  more  for  the  happiness 
of  both  the  races,  to  sunder  them  from  each  other.  But, 
if  the  blacks  must  be  retained  amongst  us,  then  would  I 
have  extended  to  them  every  civil  and  political  right  which 
we  ourselves  claim  and  exercise.  And,  furthermore,  if  on 
no  other  condition,  than  that  of  freeing  them  amongst  our- 
selves, slavery  can  be  extirpated,  then,  in  God's  name, 
extirpate  it  on  that  condition,  say  I;  and  to  one-third  of 
my  scanty  all  would  I  most  willingly  submit  to  be  taxed 
to  that  end.     Thus  far,  then,  am  I  an  Abolitionist. 

I  have  traveled  much  in  the  South,  as  the  reader  will 
have  seen,  and  am  by  no  means  disposed  to  take  back  any 
part  of  the  credit  for  humane  treatment  of  their  slaves, 
which,  in  my  former  pages,  I  have  sincerely  awarded  to 
the  masters  in  general.  Neither,  if  with  truth  I  could, 
would  1  thus  repay  the  uniform  kindness  and  confidence  I 
have  experienced  at  their  hands.  I  was  a  stranger,  and 
they  took  me  in — hungry,  and  they  fed  me — poor,  and 
they  ministered  unto  me.     It  was  as  a  preacher  of  the 


364         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

gospel  that  I  traveled  amongst  them;  not  as  a  spy  upon 
their  conduct  toward  their  slaves;  and  lest  it  should  be  sus- 
pected that,  from  obligations  of  gratitude,  I  conceal  the 
truth  on  this  subject,  1  here  deliberately  declare  that  I 
have  witnessed,  when  a  boy  in  Philadelphia,  more  instances 
of  oppression  toward  apprentices,  than,  in  the  South,  I  ever 
did  toward  slaves. 

It  is,  then,  for  other  reasons,  than  the  direct  oppressions 
it  involves,  that  I  deplore  negro  slavery — though  of  its 
incidental  grievances  God's  mind  alone  can  comprehend 
the  sum.  1  deplore  it  for  its  debasing  effects  on  the  minds 
and  morals  of  the  blacks,  as  well  as  for  its  tendencies  to 
deprave  the  whites  themselves;  to  vitiate  their  sentiments, 
to  give  them  a  mean  opinion  of  labor,  to  generate  in  them 
habits  of  indolence  and  dissipation,  to  make  them  impatient 
of  contradiction  or  denial;  violent  in  their  passions,  and 
reckless  as  to  the  cost  or  consequences  of  their  gratifica- 
tion. From  these,  and  other  inseparably  attendant  evils, 
it  results,  that  slavery  tends  to  the  destruction  of  any 
country  in  which  it  exists;  and  no  man  can  travel  exten- 
sively in  the  South-west,  without  feeling  convinced,  that 
even  the  most  fertile  and  beautiful  portions  thereof  must, 
at  no  very  remote  day,  become  a  depopulated  waste. 

I  was  seriously,  and  in  the  kindest  of  feeling  toward 
our  southern  brethren,  revolving  these  thoughts,  as  the 
boat  in  which  1  was  journeying  homeward  was  passing 
between  the  opposite  shores  of  Tennessee  and  Arkansas. 
Happening  to  cast  my  eye  toward  the  latter,  it  lighted  on 
an  extensive  tract  of  bottom-land  that  stretched  away  as 
far  as  sight  could  reach.  It  looked  lovely  in  the  warm 
sunshine,  with  the  green  stalks  of  corn  and  cotton-plant 
just  peeping  through  the  surface,  and  the  peach  and  plum 
blossoms  fringing  its  margin  here  and  there. 

Now,  thought  1,  suppose  that  from  the  numerous  philan- 
thropic men  in  England  and  in  our  own  country,  who  are 
concerned  for  the  extirpation  of  slavery,  one  million  of 
dollars  could  be  obtained  toward  that  object.  That  would 
be  but  a  trifling  sum  from  so  many;  not  more  than  a  shil- 
ling from  each.  For  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  this 
sum,  twenty  thousand  acres  of  that  fertile  plain  could  be 
purchased.  Ten  thousand  more  would  suffice  for  fur- 
nishing it  with  comfortable  quarters  for  negroes  '  and 
superintendents;  and  another  ten  thousand  would  provide 
domestic   furniture,   agricultural    implements,    mechanic 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  356 

tools,  elementary  school-books,  etc.  Let,  then,  eight  hun- 
dred thousand  be  disbursed  in  the  purchasing  of  negroes, 
in  the  portions  of  the  slave  States  where  their  price  is 
lowest,  and  in  family  groups  as  far  as  practicable.  For 
that  sum,  about  four  thousand  could  be  had,  of  big  and 
little,  male  and  female.  These  shall  be  considered  as 
apprentices  during  their  minority,  if  five  years  or  more 
under  age,  or  for  five  years  in  respect  to  those  who  have 
passed  their  minority.  During  that  term  they  shall  be 
instructed  in  agriculture,  the  mechanic  arts,  commerce, 
domestic  economy,  English  literature,  etc.  When  their 
term  of  apprenticeship  is  out,  they  shall  be  retained  on 
wages  for  three  years  longer,  and  the  excess  of  these,  over 
what  they  need  for  their  maintenance,  shall  be  saved  for 
them,  so  as  to  constitute  a  capital  to  commence  upon  when 
removed  to  a  domain  previously  provided  for  that  end. 

By  this  means,  if  the  matter  were  carried  no  farther, 
we  should  have  four  thousand  human  beings  freed  within 
a  term  of  eight  years,  and  all  their  posterity  for  ever. 
And  not  freed'  merely,  but  Jilted  for  freedom  and  for  self- 
support;  raised  in  the  intellectual  and  moral  scale,  fitted 
for  self-government,  self-dependance;  and  to  retrieve  their 
original  country  from  barbarism  and  debasement;  to  intro- 
duce therein  the  religion  of  Christ  and  the  principles  of 
political  equality,  and  to  erase  the  reproach  of  natural 
incapacity  which  has  long  attached  to  the  African  race. 
What  a  work  of  philanthropy  would  this  be.  How  insig- 
nificant, in  comparison,  the  sum  that  would  be  required 
for  its  effectuation! 

This,  however,  is  but  the  beginning  of  what  that  sum, 
thus  invested,  would  accomplish — the  first  fruits  merely. 
For  consider:  four  thousand  negroes  inspirited  with  the 
prospect  of  freedom — what  might  they  not  annually  pro- 
duce from  twenty  thousand  acres  of  fertile  land,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  boat-wood  they  might  sell,  the  bagging  they 
might  manufacture,  the  mechanic  wares  they  might  fabri- 
cate, etc?  Is  it  extravagant  to  calculate  that  a  yearly  sum 
of  two  hundred  thousand  might  be  thus  realized?  For 
that  sum,  allowing  a  majority  of  them  to  be  under  age, 
full  six  hundred  additional  slaves  could  be  purchased. 
Now,  in  my  estimate  of  the  sum  produced  per  year  by  the 
original  four  thousand  negroes,  I  have  rated  it  at  an  average 
of  fifty  dollars  per  head — and  this,  considering  the  means 
and  the  motives,  must  be  conceded  to  be  moderate — but,  as 


3t56  EXPERIENCE,    LABORS,   AND   TRAVELS 

the  original  stock  would  be  increased  by  new  purchases 
from  year  to  year,  their  earnings  would  increase  in  an 
equal  ratio;  so  that,  on  the  whole,  it  might  without  extrav- 
agance be  calculated,  that  within  the  first  ten  years,  full 
ten  thousand  might  be  thus  safely  disenthralled  and  colo- 
nized, and  a  stock  remain  on  hand  equal  to  what  it  was  in 
the  beginning. 

To  this  scheme  of  partial  emancipation,  it  may  be  ob- 
jected, that  by  diminishing  the  number  of  slaves  in  the 
country,  we  should  necessarily  raise  the  price  on  the 
remainder,  and  by  increasing  thus  the  value  of  the  article, 
bribe  the  cupidity  of  men  the  more  in  relation  to  it,  and 
so  thwart  the  purpose  of  ever  getting  altogether  rid  of  the 
evil.  This  objection  I  have  more  than  once  seen  urged 
against  the  Colonization  scheme  by  the  Abolitionists.  How 
it  has  been  answered,  or  whether  at  all,  I  know  not;  but 
to  me  it  seems  to  be  more  plausible  than  valid. 

Let  us  admit  that  the  price  would  rise  on  slaves  in  pro- 
portion as  their  number  was  diminished.  What  then? 
Why,  as  a  thing  of  course,  their  dearness  would  necessi- 
tate those  not  having  them  to  do  without  them,  and  to  hire 
free  labor  as  a  matter  of  economy.  Let  free  labor  come 
into  competition  with  slave  labor  in  the  South,  and  slavery 
is  inevitably  done  forever.  This  holds,  even  as  slaves  sell 
at  present :  let  their  price  increase,  without  a  proportion- 
ate rise  in  the  value  of  their  products,  of  which  there  is 
extremely  little  chance,  and  it  will  hold  with  redoubled 
emphasis.  There  is,  then,  as  I  conceive,  no  validity  what- 
ever in  the  objection.  Every  body  knows  that  the  price 
of  an  article  is  regulated  by  the  demand  for  it,  as  well  as 
by  the  amount  in  market ;  and  every  body  knows,  too, 
that  when  more  is  asked  for  the  article  than  it  can  be  made 
to  produce,  the  demand  for  it  will  diminish,  and  the  price 
fall  in  the  same  proportion. 

It  may  farther  be  objected  to  my  scheme,  that  its  opera- 
tion would  be  partial;  that,  comparatively,  but  few  out  of 
the  many,  would  experience  its  benefits.  True — in  about 
ten  years,  but  ten  thousand  would  be  thus  emancipated — 
ten  thousand,  and  their  posterity  for  ever.  But  is  not  even 
this  something?  Shall  we  not  do  all  we  can  in  the  matter, 
because  we  cannot  do  all  we  would?  And,  besides;  what 
might  not  be  hoped  from  the  example  thus  set?  Would  it 
not  be  likely  to  lead  to  imitative  efforts  in  various  parts  of 
the  South?     And,   in  the   ratio  of  the   emancipations  to 


OF    A   UNIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  357 

which  these  might  lead,  would  be  the  diminution  of  the 
slave  interest  of  the  country;  and  would  not  that  also  be 

something?  i     •     n 

Now,  although  I  have  put  these  cases  hypothetically, 
yet  they  are  not  mere  might  he's,  but  actual  probahhties. 
I  know  that  in  the  South  there  are  many  benevolent  masters 
who  would  willingly  relinquish  their  property  in  slaves,  if 
they  could  do  so  without  too  great  inconvenience.  But 
what  shall  they  do?  The  laws  of  most  of  the  slave  States 
forbid  their  manumission,  except  on  the  condition  of  their 
removal  beyond  the  State  limits.  Not  only  would  this 
subject  the  master  to  great  expense  and  trouble,  but  its 
operation  might  be  inhumane  in  respect  to  the  negroes 
themselves— inasmuch  as  it  would  introduce  them  into  a 
state  of  life  for  which,  by  previous  habits,  they  are  totally 
unfitted,  and  in  which,  therefore,  they  must  necessarily  be 
exposed  to  the  wants  and  to  the  temptations  thence  arising. 
During  my  first  visit  at  the  South,  I  was  the  guest  of  a 
gentleman  of  high  respectability,  and  of  most  excellent 
character,  who  informed  me  that  it  troubled  his  conscience 
to  hold  slaves,  and  that  he  was  anxious  to  give  freedom  to 
the  thirty  of  them  he  possessed,  if  he  knew  how  he  could 
do  so  consistently  with  their  advantage.  He  could  not,  in 
addition  to  defraying  the  expense  of  their  removal  to  a 
free  State,  advance  a  sum  sufficient  for  their  support  until 
they  should  become  able  to  maintain  themselves  in  then- 
new  mode  of  life. 

Now  I  had  witnessed,  when  a  boy  in  Philadelphia,  so 
much  abject  want,  squalidity,  disease,  and  crime,  among 
negroes  who  had  thus  been  manumitted,  that  I  most  con- 
scientiously believed  myself  justified  in  advising  against 
their  manumission,  except  on  the  condition  of  their  being 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Colonization  Society— and  of 
its  affairs  I  knew  not  enough  to  know  whether  it  would  be 
at  the  expense  of  their  transportation  to  Africa.  I  have 
since  that  time  met  with  several  Southern  gentlemen,  who 
have  declared  to  me,  (and  I  believed  them,  for  hypocrisy 
is  not  a  characteristic  of  Southerners)  that  they  would 
most  heartily  rejoice  if  the  country  were  well  rid  of  all 
its  slaves. 

Well,  what  hinders  now,  that  the  scheme  I  have  sketched 
should  be  carried  into  triumphant  effect?  Is  liberality 
wanting  on  the  part  of  those  who  would  desire  it?  No,  no, 
thi3  cannot  be ;   for  the  British  people  have  already  freed 


358        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

their  West  India  slaves  at  an  expense  of  one  hundred  mil- 
lions of  dollars!  My  scheme  contemplates  as  at  first 
necessary,  only  the  one-hundredth  part  of  that  sum;  and 
if,  on  that  foundation,  ten  thousand  slaves  could  be  eman- 
cipated in  ten  years,  ten  millions  of  dollars  would  suffice, 
within  the  same  term,  for  freeing  one  hundred  thousand; 
besides  the  many  who,  by  virtue  of  the  example  thus  set, 
would  be  liberated  by  generous-hearted  masters  without  a 
pecuniary  consideration. 

And  in  this  work  of  philanthropy,  too,  no  injustice  would 
be  done  to  anybody.  It  is  perfectly  pacific  in  its  nature. 
It  is  entirely  lawful  in  its  principle.  It  involves  no  inter- 
ference with  any  question  of  rights,  personal  or  constitu- 
tional. It  looks  to  the  elevation,  as  well  as  to  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  African  race :  and,  in  fine,  it  provides,  as  I 
judge,  an  easily  practicable  way  in  which  the  country  may 
rid  itself  of  an  evil  which  is  pressing  like  an  incubus  upon 
its  heart,  and  seems  destined  to  do  so  forever. 

Oh!  how  pure  a  delight  I  enjoyed  while  indulging  in 
this  reverie!  I  cherished  it  for  two  or  three  days  together, 
withdrawing  from  the  rest  of  the  company  on  the  boat, 
that  1  might  wholly  abandon  myself  to  the  pleasing  idea, 
and  fancy  it  a  reality.  Up  rose  to  my  imagination,  a  fairy 
scene  of  some  ten  or  twelve  hundred  cottages,  brilliantly 
white-washed,  with  each  its  little  garden,  neatly  enclosed, 
and  the  whole  embowered  amongst  ornamental  trees.  In- 
termixed with  these  cots  were  schools,  factories,  and  shops 
for  artizans;  and  away  in  the  distance,  stretched  cotton, 
corn,  and  hemp-fields.  And,  then,  the  community  of  this 
Utopia — happy  in  the  prospect  of  freedom;  happy,  too,  in 
the  contrast  of  their  present  condition  with  the  hopeless 
one  into  which  they  had  been  born ;  happy,  likewise,  in 
the  new-born  consciousness  that  they  were  human,  and 
destined  to  act  for  themselves  in  the  drama  of  human 
life.  And  of  evenings,  when  their  day's  labor  was  over, 
how  hilarious  would  these  happy  thousands  be!  What 
dancing!  what  glee!  what  fantastic  exhibitions  of  merry- 
heartedness!  Oh,  God!  if  by  thy  ordaining,  I  might  become 
the  occupant  of  the  proudest  throne  on  earth,  I  might,  as 
Solomon  did,  fill  the  world  with  the  fame  of  my  wisdom 
and  the  splendor  of  my  courts;  but,  in  my  deepest  heart  I 
feel,  that  I  should  be  incomparably  more  happy  if  I  could 
but  be  ordained  the  humble  instrument  in  a  work  of  phi- 
lanthropy like  this. 


OF   A   T7NIVERSAL1ST   PREACHER.  369 

On  my  return  from  the  above  excursion,  I  sat  about  a 
task  of  which  I  had  long  felt  the  necessity,  though  I  had 
wished  it  to  fall  into  other  hands,  viz. :  the  compiling  a 
Hymn  Book  for  the  use  of  the  Universalist  denomination. 
The  hope  of  pecuniary  gain  had  nothing  whatever  to  do 
with  that  undertaking,  for  the  chances  of  that  sort  seemed 
anything  but  favorable,  with  the  then  universal  stagnation 
of  trade  throughout  the  country,  and  the  consequent 
scarcity  of  money.  Nor  was  the  task  an  agreeable  one 
in  itself — for,  in  a  work  of  that  sort  an  infinitude  of  vari- 
ant tastes  have  to  be  satisfied;  errors  of  theology  have  to 
be  carefully  guarded  against,  as  well  as  defects  in  rhyme, 
measure,  taste,  devotional  sentiment,  tone,  etc.;  on  which 
account,  conjoined  with  the  intensity  of  my  solicitude  to 
meet  the  public  expectation,  and  justify  the  confidence 
they  were  disposed  to  accord  to  me  in  advance,  I  expe- 
rienced it  to  be  the  severest  literary  drudgery  in  whicn  I 
ever  was  engaged. 

I  had  to  restrict  my  ministerial  labors  of  that  season 
within  a  comparatively  limited  circuit  about  Cincinnati. 
I  made  one  excursion  of  thirty  miles,  with  John  A.  Gurley, 
into  Indiana.  During  our  absence  we  attended  an  Asso- 
ciational  meeting  of  two  days  at  Cambridge,  twenty  three 
miles  from  the  city.  It  proved  a  rainy  and  disagreeable 
time,  until  the  forenoon  of  the  second  day,  when  it  cleared 
away,  and  a  large  congregation  attended,  to  whom  Mr. 
Gurley  and  myself  delivered  each  a  discourse  from  a  stand 
out  of  doors,  under  the  shade  of  some  large  sycamore 
trees,  which  there  skirt  a  brook  called  Indian  creek.  E. 
B.  Mann,  A.  H.  Longley,  and  J.  N.  A.  Gooch,  were  also  in 
attendance,  and  preached  at  that  meeting. 

In  August  of  that  year,  the  Miami  Association  met  in 
Hamilton,  which  is  twenty-four  miles  from  Cincinnati. 
From  first  to  last,  the  meetings  were  largely  attended, 
on  the  second  day,  especially,  when  the  audience  was  com- 
posed of  three  thousand  persons,  by  a  moderate  computa- 
tion. The  place  of  the  meeting  was  a  grove  of  tall  young 
sycamores,  on  the  alluvial  plain  which  forms  at  that  place 
the  first  bottom,  or  bordering  shelf  of  land,  of  the  Big 
Miami  river.  The  trees  were  close  enough  for  shade,  yet 
open  enough  to  admit  easily  of  carriages  being  driven  be- 
tween them.  The  face  of  the  ground  was  smooth  and 
grassy;  the  slender  sycamore  trunks  shot  up  like  pillars 
in  a  cathedral,  supporting  the  verdant  roof  above;  and  the 


360         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

green  sloping  bank  of  the  second  alluvial  shelf,  hemmed 
us  in  semi-circularly;  leaving  us  with  as  beautiful  and  se- 
cluded an  area  to  ourselves  as  ever  God  was  worshipped 
in,  methinks,  on  this  side  of  heaven.  O !  may  our  offerings., 
by  their  purity  and  fervency,  have  proved  befitting  that 
temple  of  God's  own  building  !  The  choir  of  the  Cincin- 
nati society  attended  that  meeting.  It  comprises  some 
forty  voices,  with  various  instrumental  accompaniments. 
It  is  at  all  times  effective,  but  never  had  I  heard  its  hymns 
and  anthems  swell  up  so  melodiously,  and  with  such  grand 
effect  on  the  soul,  as  they  did  on  that  occasion  among 
those  sycamore  shades. 

In  September,  D.  R.  Biddlecome,  of  Dayton,  Ohio,  took 
me  from  thence  to  Knightstown,  Indiana,  where  the  State 
Convention  was  appointed  to  be  held.  The  distance  was 
something  over  sixty  miles.  We  had  an  appointment  for 
nn  evening  meeting  on  the  way,  in  one  of  the  numerous 
villages  which  are  strung  along  on  the  great  National 
Road.  The  task  of  preaching  fell  upon  D.  R.  Biddlecome. 
When  in  the  midst  of  his  sermon,  his  shin  received  a 
nudge  from  the  walking-cane  of  an  old  gentleman,  who 
left  his  seat  for  the  purpose  of  calling  his  attention  to  a 
certain  scripture  text,  which  he  fancied  to  be  germaine  to 
the  purpose  of  his  argument. 

"  Quote  Hebrews  twelfth,"  muttered  the  old  getleman-, 
after  administering  the  aforesaid  knock  on  the  shin;  and 
he  then  passed  on  and  re-seated  himself. 

Of  the  Conventional  meeting  at  Knightstown,  and  the 
proceedings  altogether,  I  really  am  puzzled  to  know  how 
to  speak,  and  it  will  therefore  best  become  my  page  to  be 
silent  on  the  subject.  The  congregations  in  attendance 
were  good,  and  their  deportment  orderly  and  respectfuk 
A  promising  young  minister,  Benjamin  F.  Foster,  was  or- 
dained on  the  Sabbath,  and  the  services  of  the  occasion 
were  listened  to  with  an  interest  which  gave  good  hope 
that  they  would  not  prove  profitless. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  361 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

Visits  Wheeling,  Virginia,  and  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania.  Has  a  dis- 
cussion of  three  days  duration  in  the  latter  city.  Penetrates  into 
several  hitherto  unvisited  parts  of  Ohio.  Attends  the  meeting  of 
the  United  States  Convention  at  Akron,  Ohio,  and  returns  with 
his  family,  by  way  of  Columbus  and  Zanesville. 

From  December  till  April,  inclusive,  of  1842-3,  I  was 
-engaged  in  arduous  labors  and  travels  in  parts  of  Ohio, 
Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia,  bordering  on  the  river,  into 
which  our  preachers  had  seldom  previously  adventured. 
The  winter  was  a  more  than  usually  variable  one;  rigor- 
ous frosts  were  succeeded  by  sudden  thaws,  and  copious 
rains,  which  alternating  states  of  the  weather  reduced  the 
roads,  even  the  McAdamized,  nearly  to  impassability. 
On  the  first  of  February,  however,  a  winter  really  Sibe- 
rian set  in,  and  with  all  its  bad  varieties  of  rain,  hail, 
sleet,  snow,  and  piercing  winds,  it  maintained  its  almost 
unmitigated  sovereignty  until  the  middle  of  April. 

Nevertheless,  I  know  not  when  I  ever  addressed  con- 
gregations so  uniformly  large  as  my  appointments  of  that 
disagreeable  season  called  out.  In  many  of  the  places 
this  was  owing  to  *the  fact  of  their  having  never  before 
been  visited  by  our  preachers;  and  in  nearly  all  of  them 
doubtless  by  the  extreme  unfrequency  of  such  visits. 

At  Mason,  twenty  miles  from  Cincinnati,  1  was  met  by 
D.  R.  Biddlecome,  and  conveyed  to  Dayton,  thirty  miles  fur- 
ther. Thence  A.  Sweet  conveyed  me  to  Zanesville,  which 
from  Dayton  is  distant  something  over  a  hundred  miles. 
Thence  to  Wheeling,  seventy  miles,  I  proceeded  by  stage. 
Between  my  home  and  the  place  last  named,  I  preached 
at  many  intermediate  points.  At  Lebanon,  John  A.  Gur- 
ley  and  I  had  a  polemical  tilt  with  a  certain  gasconading 
preacher  of  the  Reformer  or  Campbellite  school.  This 
was  before  a  crowded  auditory  in  the  Town  Hall.  He 
made  an  attack  upon  our  faith,  which  was  in  the  last  de- 
gree trashy  and  vituperative;  and  we  reviewed  the  same 
to  the  effect,  as  was  thought  by  nearly  all  there  present, 
of  making  his  arguments  and  representations  to  appear 
most  pitiably  weak  and  self-destructive.  Take  a  sample 
or  two. 

"  The  good  old  book  tells  us,  that '  He  that  believeth  net 
shall  be  damaed ;'  but  the  Universalist  comes  along,  and 
24 


862  EXPERIENCE,    LABORS,    AND    TRAVELS" 

says,   Don't  believe  it,  sinners — no   danger — go  ahead — 
you'll  be  saved  whether  you  believe  or  not.'''' 

Now,  it  happens,  that  in  order  to  the  salvation  referred  to- 
rn this  text,  hajMsm  is  required,  as  well  as  faith.  If  then 
the  text  is  applicable  to  the  Jinal  states  of  men,  all  will  be- 
lost  eternally  who  are  not  baptized!  Did  our  assailant  be- 
lieve this?  Not  he.  Consequently,  bis  reductio  ad  absurdum 
could  be  retorted  on  himself.  '•  He  that  believeth  and  i& 
baptized  shall  be  saved ;'^  but  no  matter  about  the  terms  of 
of  the  text,  sinner,  "  You'll  be  saved  whether  yo^  are  bap- 
tized or  not.'''' 

Again  j  he  represented  that,  according  to  Uniyersalism, 
God  is  cruel;  because  of  our  holding  that  in  all  cases  God 
permits  the  penalties  of  his  law  to  take  effect  apon  the 
transgressor.  "  There  is  no  pity  with  the  Universalist's 
God,"  he  lugubriously  exclaimed;  "  no  compassion;  the 
poor  sinner  may  repent  in  dust  and  ashes;  he  may  weep;, 
he  may  implore;  but  the  Universalist's  God  knows  no 
mercy.  With  him  all  is  justice;  all  the  punishment  de- 
served must  be  inflicted;  not  the  smallest  fraction  can  be 
remitted!"  etc. 

Well,  for  this  sort  of  logic,  if  so  we  may  term  it,  the 
process  of  refutation  was,  happily,  brief  and  obvimis.  The 
Universalist's  God  is  cruel — why?  Bec^se  he  permits  the 
penalties  of  his  law,  in  all  cases,  to  take  effect  upon  trans- 
gressors! What  follows  then?  Plainly,  that  the  penalties  of 
God''s  Jaw  are  cruelty  ! 

I  had  a  very  interesting  series  of  meetings  at  Wheeling, 
Virginia.  The  capacious  Council  Chamber  in  which  they 
were  held,  was  more  and  more  crowded  the  longer  they 
were  continued;  and  although  throughout  I  was  unspa- 
ringly doctrinal,  and  my  audiences  were  almost  entirely 
composed  of  the  members  of  different  christian  denomina- 
tions, the  discourses  seemed,  nevertheless,  to  give  very- 
general  satisfaction.  So  evidently,  indeed,  was  this  the 
case,  that  when,  at  the  close  of  my  last  meeting,  a  Metho- 
dist preacher  arose  and  attempted  to  be  scurrilous  at  the 
expense  of  my  religious  views,  the  entire  audience  de- 
manded that  he  should  be  silenced. 

From  Wheeling  I  walked  to  Warrenton,  ten  miles  up  the 
Virginia  shore  of  the  river,  which  was  covered  with  a 
glare  of  ice,  formed  on  the  surface  of  hard  frozen  snow. 
In  addition  to  that  discomfort,  I  was  annoyed  by  the  com- 
panionship of  a  drunken  Irishman  for  the  most  of  the  way. 


OF    A    UNIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  365 

who  whooped,  and  screamed,  and  jumped,  and  cut  as  many 
capers  as  a  wild  Indian.  One  while  he  would  insist  on 
locking  arms  with  me,  when  he  would  stagger  from  one 
side  of  the  road  to  the  other,  and  make  me  describe  as 
many  zig-zags  as  himself.  Anon  he  would  curse  me  for  a 
"d — d  Methodist  praacher  thaief,"  and  accuse  me  of  eat- 
ing up  all  the  chickens  in  the  country. 

I  was  taken  to  Pittsburg  from  Steubenville  by  a  zealous- 
co-believer  of  the  latter  place,  Ezekial  Gile,  whose  guest  I 
was  during  my  several  sojourns  there.  It  appeared,  on  my 
arrival  at  Pittsburg — I  had  had  no  hint  of  it  before — that 
I  was  engaged  for  a  public  debate  with  a  popular  minister 
of  that  city,  on  the  merits  of  Universalisml  The  minister 
aforesaid  had  been  deliverhig  a  course  of  lectures  on  that 
subject,  and  at  the  close  thereof  had  signified  a  willingness 
to  meet  any  of  our  ministers  in  a  public  discussion  of  the 
single  affirmative  question,  "Do  the  Scriptures  teach  the 
ultimate  salvation  of  all  men?"  Whereupon,  our  friends, 
in  the  expectation  of  my  visit  to  the  place,  had  taken  up 
the  gauntlet  in  my  name.  There  remained  to  me,  there- 
fore, but  the  alternative  of  an  acceptance  or  a  declension — 
popularly  termed  a  ''back  out" — and  I  decided  on  the 
former. 

Of  the  merits  of  the  discussion,  it  of  course  would  not 
become  me  to  speak.  My  opponent  was  an  intelligent  and 
gentlemanly  man.  The  audience  was  so  large,  through- 
out, as  to  fill  aisles,  door-ways,  and  window-spaces;  and 
the  most  quiet  and  respectful  attention  was  given  to 
both  the  speakers.  In  the  last  respect  I  was  most  agreea- 
bly disappointed,  for  from  what  1  knew  to  be  the  bigotry  of 
the  place,  I  had  expected  some  rude  manifestations  of  their 
preference  for  the  views  of  my  opponent. 

At  the  close  of  the  second  day  of  the  debate,  for  it  oc 
cupied  three  days — five  hours  of  each,  1  was  accosted 
by  an  intelligent-seeming  young  man,  who  told  me  that 
my  arguments  gave  great  relief  to  his  mind,  although  they 
had  not  fully  made  a  convert  of  him.  He  belonged,  he 
said,  to  the  same  denomination  as  my  opponent.  He  had 
some  time  since  lost  his  father,  who  went  to  his  grave  in  his 
sins,  and  he  had  since  experienced  much  anguish  of  mind 
with  respect  to  the  eternal  condition  of  that  father.  My 
answer  to  him  was,  that  I  was  far  from  disposed  to  bribe 
his  judgment  over  to  my  side  through  his  filial  affections;- 
that  the  father  whom  he  deplored,  had  also  a  Father,  to 


364         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

whom  his  eternal  welfare  was  more  a  matter  of  benevolent 
concern,  than  it  could  possibly  be  to  his  surviving  son; 
and  that,  seeing  that  his  father  was  so  well  cared  for,  I 
judged  it  needless  for  him  to  borrow  uneasiness  on  his 
account. 

The  boat  on  which  I  was  to  have  left  Pittsburg,  departed 
without  me,  and,  taking  my  trunk  with  it,  left  me  to  re- 
main there  over  the  Sabbath  without  a  single  change. 
Ammi  Bond  was  then  the  Universalist  minister  at  Pitts- 
burg. I  heard  two  sermons  from  him  on  that  day,  and 
delivered  a  third  myself  in  the  evening.  As  to  my  trunk, 
a  porter  brought  it  to  my  door  in  Cincinnati  some  two 
months  afterward,  when  it  had  performed  a  voyage  to 
Lafayette,  on  the  Wabash,  about  nine  hundred  miles,  and 
as  far  as  Cincinnati  on  its  way  back  to  Pittsburg;  being, 
in  all,  a  distance  of  some  fourteen  hundred  miles.  It  had 
taken  a  small  jaunt  to  see  the  world,  in  imitation  of  its 
owner. 

At  Warrenton,  Sraithfield,  Cadiz,  Belmont,  and  several 
other  places  till  then  unvisited  by  a  preacher  of  our  faith, 
I  held  numerous  and  crowdedly  attended  meetings.  I  had 
to  be  dependent  on  the  kindness  of  friends  for  convey- 
ances from  place  to  place,  and  as  both  roads  and  weather 
were  exceedingly  rough,  it  was  a  tax  upon  their  kindness, 
indeed.  Nevertheless,  I  had,  as  1  think,  the  hardest  of  the 
bargain  after  all.  My  frequent  preachings  to  crowded 
assemblies;  my  almost  incessant  conversations;  and  my 
long,  weary  rides  in  open  wagons,  over  rough  roads,  and 
amidst  fierce  blasts  and  snow-squalls;  these,  altogether, 
put  the  soundness  of  my  physical  constitution  to  very 
severe  proof. 

And  thereabouts,  and  wherever  else  my  desultory  ram- 
bles took  me,  I  found  those  who  had  previously  heard  me 
in  other  parts;  and  among  the  rest,  one  who  had  been  one 
of  a  small  audience  at  Green  Village,  Pennsylvania,  where, 
some  eight  years  before,  when  I  was  moving  with  my 
family  to  Cincinnati,  I  had  delivered  a  solitary  sermon; 
the  first,  and  to  this  day  the  last,  without  doubt,  of  that 
kind  of  preaching  that  ever  took  place  there.  The  village 
is  five  miles  from  Chambersburg,  and  is  the  identical  place 
where,  the  reader  may  remember,  I  took  sick  at  the  time 
of  my  earliest  westward  ramble.  I  was  desirous  of  preach- 
ing the  "  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God,"  in  that  scene  of 
my  former  sufferings,  although,  as  the  pious  family  who 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  366 

dismissed  me  so  considerately  when  my  funds  had  failed, 
were  no  longer  there,  I  was  a  stranger  to  all  in  the  place. 
Accordingly,  I  obtained  permission  of  the  landlord  with 
whom  we  lodged,  to  make  his  sitting-room  my  chapel  for 
the  occasion;  and,  the  word  for  a  meeting  being  given  out, 
some  dozen  or  so  collected  together.  I  knew  them  to  be 
about  two-thirds  Dutch  in  character,  and  I  therefore  sim- 
plified my  English  as  much  as  possible.  I  was  not  long  in 
perceiving  that  my  doctrine  was  not  at  all  to  their  taste. 

"  The  ladies  first  ''gan  murmur,  as  became 
The  softer  sex." 

My  wife,  who  sat  among  them  in  an  adjoining  room, 
subsequently  informed  me  that  they  kept  up  a  continued 
fire  of  0/^5,  and  Did  you  everts,  and  Such  shifs,  and  the 
like,  during  the  entire  discourse.  Disregarding,  however, 
all  uneasy  movements  and  mutterings,  I  continued  to 
preach  with  great  earnestness,  until  my  gravity  was  dis- 
composed by  the  following  circumstance.  A  red-faced, 
and  particularly  vedi-nosed  subject,  whose  breath,  besides, 
gave  token  of  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  bar-room, 
had  volunteered  to  snuff  the  candles  during  the  meeting. 
For  a  while  he  performed  this  function  with  a  very  good 
grace;  but  as  the  discourse  grew  in  length,  he  becoming 
dry  probably,  grew  testy,  and,  at  length,  when  he  had 
again  snuffed  the  candle  that  stood  by  me  on  the  stand,  he 
asked  me  in  a  crabbed  under  tone,  "Do  you  mean  to  preach 
all  night?  SayV  This  was  too  ludicrous  for  m^*  risibles 
to  stand  out  against,  and  I  hurried  to  a  close  that  I  might 
let  them  take  their  course  without  restraint. 

On  my  way  homeward,  I  made  a  stop  of  two  weeks  at 
Columbus,  the  capital  of  Ohio,  where,  as  I  oft  before  was, 
and  since  have  been,  I  was  the  guest  of  Demas  Adams,  to 
whom  and  his  wife,  as  also  to  William  Bambo rough  and 
his  wife,  I  feel  myself  to  be  under  obligations  which  de- 
mand an  expression  in  this  record  of  my  public  life.  Our 
friends  in  that  beautiful  interior  city  have  never  been 
numerous;  but  amiable  in  themselves,  and  respectable  in 
a  worldly  sense,  they  have  always  been;  and  in  no  west- 
ern location,  not  even  in  Cincinnati,  could  I  better  content 
myself  to  settle  down  in  the  pastoral  relation,  than  in  that 
gem  of  central  Ohio. 

In  July  of  that  year,  1843,  I  revisited  the  Muskingum 
region,  and  had  several  pleasant  meetings  thereabout.     I 


366         EXPERIENCE,  LABOKS,  AND  TRAVELS 

preached  a  Sabbath  at  Belpre,  another  at  Marietta  ;  two 
evenings  at  Watertown,  two  at  McConnelsville,  one  at 
Windsor.  I  was  conducted  by  the  friends  from  place  to 
place,  as  I  had  no  means  of  conveyance  of  my  own.  From 
the  place  last  named,  as  I  was  proceeding  down  the  right 
bank  of  the  river,  I  saw  two  females  at  some  distance 
before  me  in  my  road,  endeavoring  to  wrench  a  long  gad — 
as  a  twig  denuded  of  its  leaves  is  termed — out  of  each 
others  hands;  by  and  by  they  each  clutched  it  with  but 
one  hand,  and  pelted  away  at  each  other  faces  with  the 
other.  I  urged  my  conductor  to  speed  up  to  the  rescue, 
that  we  might  effect  a  cessation  of  hostilities  between 
them;  but  as  we  got  up  to  them  they  were  parted  by  two 
men  who  had  sprung  from  among  the  bushes  by  the  road 
side,  and  these  immediatety  exchanged  curses,  and  squared 
up  in  a  lighting  attitude  toward  each  other.  I  was  puzzled 
to  know  what  all  these  pugilistic  manifestations  could  mean, 
until  my  conductor,  who  was  acquainted  with  the  parlies, 
explained  by  informing  me  that  the  men  were  brothers^ 
and  the  women  a  grand-miOther  and  her  grand-daughter; 
the  former  was  the  mother  of  the  two  men,  and  the  latter 
the  daughter  of  one  of  them.  So  it  was  a  family  affair 
throughout.  The  younger  of  the  women  was  about  seven- 
teen, and  was  in  a  fair  way  to  win  the  field  against  the 
older  one,  when  we  came  up,  for  the  latter  was  very  cor- 
pulent, and  her  w^ind  did  not  hold  out  well.  But  what  a 
sad  picture  of  morals  was  this.  What  a  wife  and  mother 
might  Sfhe  be  expected  to  make,  who  at  seventeen  had 
engaged  at  fisticuffs  with  her  grand-mother. 

From  Marietta  I  went  by  boat  up  to  Wheeling,  where 
I  tarried  several  days,  and  thence  to  Beaver,  Pennsylvania, 
which  is  at  the  confluence  of  the  river  of  that  name  with 
the  Ohio,  twenty  miles  north  of  Pittsburg.  It  is  a  spot 
of  almost  unrivaled  beauty.  The  former  river  is  rendered 
slack  by  lockage  for  twenty  miles  up  it,  and  the  motive- 
power  it  furnishes  is  so  considerable  as  to  have  caused  nu- 
merous manufacturing  villages  to  spring  up  within  that 
distance  on  its  shores.  I  tarried  thereabout  for  several 
days,  at  the  elegant  residence  of  my  friend,  Ovid  Pinney, 
who  thereafter  conducted  me  into  the  Western  Reserve  of 
Ohio;  first  to  Youngstown,  then  to  Warren,  then  to  Bris- 
tol, and  lastly  to  Parkman;  a  distance  in  all  of  about  sixty 
miles.  Thence  I  was  conducted  to  Ravenna,  where  re- 
sides my  old   co-laborer,  George  Messinger;  and  thence  to 


OF    A   imiVEUSALlST    PREACHER.  367 

Akron,  where  lives  another,  who  was  a  co-laborer  with  me 
an  the  former  field  of  my  toils,  Nelson  Doolittle,  whom, 
and  his  family,  1  was  right  heartily  glad  to  see,  both  on 
their  own  account,  and  for  "auld  lang  syne."  1  spent 
much  time  about  there,  in  professional  emplo^'^ments,  of 
course;  no  otherwise  is  time  of  mine  ever  spent,  nor  do  I 
wish  it  ever  to  be.  I  preached  several  times  at  a  place 
up  the  canal  from  Akron,  called  Peninsular,  where  lived 
several  warm  and  simple-hearted  believers,  two  of  whom 
were  natives  of  Sweeden.  I  also  visited  Cleveland,  and 
the  labor-ground  not  far  from  thence  of  S.  Hull,  who  min- 
isters to  the  several  societies  of  Olmstead,  Laporte,  and 
Medina.  When  I  failed  to  find  conveyance,  I  conveyed 
myself  afoot.  Think  of  me  preaching  two  sermons  to  a 
congregation  in  the  woods;  then  riding  fourteen  miles  the 
same  afternoon  to  Massillon;  and  thence  proceeding  up  the 
tow-path  of  the  canal  on  foot  until  twelve  o'clock  at  night. 
This  I  did  to  enable  myself  to  meet  an  engagement  at 
Akron  on  the  next  day.  An  eccentric  but  shrewd  and 
intelligent  preacher  of  Akron,  by  some  means 'got  know- 
ledge of  that  adventure,  and  he  took  occasion  to  introduce 
it  into  one  of  his  sermons,  by  way,  I  presume,  of  illustra- 
ting the  length  to  which  men  will  sometimes  go  in  promo- 
ting a  had  cause. 

1  accompanied  N.  Doolittle  to  Newbury,  where  he  held 
a  public  discussion  for  four  days  with  a  Doctor  Alford,  of 
the  society  denominated  Free-will  Baptists.  Good  temi)er, 
a  good  degree  of  calmness,  and  a  high  order  of  polemical 
ability,  were  displayed  by  both  the  disputants.  I  preached 
during  the  evenings  of  the  debate  to  very  crowded  audi- 
ences. It  were  useless,  and  unfair  besides,  to  award  the 
palm  to  either  of  the  combatants,  or  to  express  an  eiyarte 
opinion  as  to  the  relative  weight  of  argument  between 
them. 

On  the  20th  of  September  of  that  year,  commenced  the 
session,  at  Akron,  of  the  United  States  Convention  of  Uni- 
versalists:  this  was  the  first  time  that  a  session  of  that  body 
had  taken  place  west  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  and  it 
proved  a  season  long  to  be  remembered  by  all  who  were 
present  at  it.  The  meetings  of  the  occasion  continued 
over  five  days,  and,  throughout,  an  audience  of  not  less 
than  five  thousand  persons  were  in  attendance.  Nothing 
could  exceed  the  order  that  was  preserved;  the  quietude 
maintained;  the  attention  given,    both  within  the  church 


368  EXPERIENCE,    LABORS,    AND    TRAVELS 

and  without,  from  eight  o'clock  each  morning,  until — witfo 
intermissions  for  refreshment —  about  ten  o'clock  each 
evening. 

To  accommodate  so  immense  an  audience,  so  that  all 
might  hear,  the  arrangement  was  perfect.  The  windows 
were  taken  out  of  the  north  side  of  the  church,  and  an. 
enormous  tent-cloth  extended  on  that  side  over  an  arrange- 
ment of  temporary  seats.  The  speakers  then  took  their 
stand  in  one  of  the  window-spaces,  where  a  temporary 
desk  was  erected,  and  thus  they  had  the  audience  within 
the  house  on  their  left  hand,  and  the  audience  without  on 
their  right.  The  weather  was  warm  and  dry  throughout 
the  term,  so  that  there  was  no  choice  between  a  seat  out 
of  doors  and  one  within. 

Oh,  what  a  delightful  season  was  that!  What  an  image 
of  the  land  of  the  blessed,  where  five  thousand  persons  are 
listening  to  gospel  strains  with  beaming  countenances,  and 
hearts  which  thrill  in  harmonious  unison  to  the  themes  of 
God's  paternity;  man's  brotherhood;  sins  eventual  over- 
thrown; death's,  destruction;  hell's  defeat;  heaven's  tri- 
umph; Satan  vanquished;  Christ  victorious;  the  grave  de- 
populated; heaven  the  home  of  all  1  Say,  Sceptic,  does, 
your  cold  philosophy  afford  themes  that  can  interest  the 
human  heart  like  these? 

*•  Lord  of  the  worlds  above, 
How  pleasant,  and  how  fair, 
The  dwellings  of  thy  love. 
Thine  earthly  temples  are  I  •' 

I  wonder  not  at  the  Psalmist's  aspiration  when  he  ex- 
claimed, "One  thing  have  1  desired  of  the  Lord,  and  that 
will  1  seek  after,  that  I  may  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord 
forever,  that  I  may  behold  the  beauty  of  the  Lord,  and  in- 
quire in  his  temple." 

From  Akron  1  returned,  my  family  being  with  me,  on  a 
canal  boat,  to  Hebron,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles, 
where  the  canal  is  crossed  by  the  National  Road.  It  was 
ten  o'clock  on  a  Saturday  night  when  we  reached  that 
point,  and  our  first  business  was  to  arouse  from  their  beds 
some  one  of  the  several  excellent  families  of  our  friends 
there,  that  we  might  procure  their  assistance  in  getting  to 
Columbus,  twenty-seven  miles,  in  time  for  my  appointment 
there  on  the  next  day. 

The  family  on  whom  we  called,  Henry  Lyon,  rendered 
us  the  most  cheerful  and  ample  aid  to  that  end,  although 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  369 

more  than  half  the  night  was  necessarily  consumed  in  ma- 
king the  requisite  arrangements.  After  1  had  preached  a 
Sabbath  and  several  evenings  at  Columbus,  we  returned  to 
Hebron,  and  proceeded  thence  to  Zanesville,  where  also 
we  spent  a  Sabbath,  and  thereafter  took  a  steamboat  from 
thence  to  Cincinnati,  which  we  reached  after  a  passage  of 
thirty  hour?. 

Quite  a  pleasant  trip  is  it,  the  reader  must  know,  from 
Zanesville  down  the  Muskingum  river,  which  is  rendered 
navigable,  by  lockage  for  steamboats  of  a  pretty  large  class; 
the  distance  is  about  eighty  miles.  On  the  way  are  some 
six  or  seven  villages,  and  besides  them  the  shores  exhibit, 
not,  to  be  sure,  a  very  rich,  but  a  pleasingly  varied  land- 
scape; now  wooded  hills;  now  grassy  slopes;  now  tracts  of 
level  bottom-land  ;  now  precipitous  ledges  ;  and  now  a 
grouping  of  all  these  into  one  scene  of  beauty. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

Visits  St.  Louis,  Troy,  Missouri;  Alton,  Illinois;  Robertson  county, 
Nashville,  and  Memphis,  Tennessee;  also,  Vicksburg,  Jackson, 
and  Brandon,  Mississippi. 

I  spent  my  first  Sabbath  from  home  at  Rising  Sun,  In- 
diana, where  our  friends  have  a  good  meeting-house  and 
well  organized  society. 

The  Methodists  there  were  holding  a  protracted  meet- 
ing. I  was  present  at  one  of  their  services  on  Monday : 
the  sermon  was  so-so.  It  had  no  relation  to  moral  duties, 
or  the  obligations  between  man  and  man,  its  sole  end 
seemed  to  be  to  prevail  on  certain  women  to  go  forward 
and  kneel  at  a  semi-circular  railing,  termed  an  "altar," — 
most  significantly  so  named  too,  I  think,  for  thereon  are 
sacrificed,  alas,  how  often,  religion,  good  sense,  decency, 
and  many  a  guileless  heart.  Well  may  they  call  it  an 
*'altar."  The  preacher,  instead  of  finishing  his  sermon  in 
the  desk,  came  out  while  still  speaking,  and  concluded  it 
with  a  wild  rant  on  the  platform  within  the  railing;  this 
he  paced  to  and  fro,  bawling,  and  swinging  his  arms,  at  a 
rate  that  made  him  appear  supremely  ridiculous.  If  the 
ffentleman  could  have  seen  his  own  picture  at  the  time, 
It  would  have  satisfied  him  at  once  that  he  was  disfiguring 


370        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

God's  workmanship  in  a  most  culpable  degree.  It  was  a 
failure,  so  far  as  Ae  was  concerned;  the  "mourners"  would 
not  go  up  to  the  "  altar  "  at  his  bidding. 

Whereupon  the  matter  was  taken  in  hand  by  the 
preacher  in  charge,  a  Mr.  D.,  who  had  rendered  himself 
somewhat  noted  as  a  successful  operator  in  that  business. 
He  commenced  operations  by  gently  upbraiding  the  mourn- 
ers for  not  coming  up  to  the  altar — he  prayed  the  tender- 
hearted Jesus  to  forgive  them  the  heinous  sin;  "you  have 
thereby  missed,"  said  he,  "  one  precious  opportunity  of 
being  prayed  for  by  the  people  of  God,  and  of  being 
counselled  by  his  ministers.  O  blessed  Jesus!"  he  ex- 
claimed, "have  mercy  upon  them.  Immaculate  Lamb! 
lay  thy  comforting  hand  upon  their  hearts  1"  etc.  Still 
none  moved  forward.  I  began  to  feel  a  sincere  sympathy 
with  the  actors  in  this  awkward  drama,  and  to  attribute 
the  failure  to  the  fact  of  its  being  enacted  in  the  light  of 
day;  which  every  body  knows  is  unfavorable  to  such  per- 
formances. 

It  soon  appeared,  however,  that  Mr.  D.  had  not  yet 
pulled  a/Z  his  wires:  finding  that  the  maudlin  sentimen- 
talism  about  Jesus,  which  is  usually  resorted  to  by  preach- 
ers of  his  class  to  make  women  weep,  had  by  too  oft  repe- 
tition lost  its  power  on  this  occasion,  he  changed  his  tone 
to  one  of  piping  self-commiseration.  He  had  been  re- 
minded while  praying  in  his  closet  that  morning  of  his 
own  poor  wasted  body,  his  poor  pale  face,  his  poor  feeble 
limbs;  they  would  soon  see  the  last  of  their  poor  brother 
D. — his  poor  stammering  tongue  would  soon  lie  silent  in 
the  grave,  etc.  The  dear  sisters  began  now  to  weep  in 
earnest,  they  were  more  liberal  of  their  tears  to  brother 
D.'s  case  than  to  that  of  Jesus;  and  now  it  was  that  the 
artful  actor  sprung  his  last  wire.  "  Up  now,  and  come 
forward,  every  one  of  you,"  cried  he,  "church  members 
and  all.  Come  all  of  you,  simultaneously,  and  bring  the 
mourners  with  you." 

And  sure  enough,  obedient  to  the  injunction,  the  mem- 
bers arose  en  mass,  and  rushed  to  the  altar,  dragging  the 
mourners  with  them.  I  had  supposed  myself  acquainted 
with  the  various  clap-traps  resorted  to  on  these  occasions, 
but  I  was  not  prepared  for  this.  I  was  previously  aware 
that  persons,  deeming  themselves  to  have  been  already 
converted,  were  in  the  habit  of  going  to  the  altar  in  the 
character  of  mourners,  as  mere  decoys  for  others;  but  I 


OF   A   IJNIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  371 

had  not  supposed  the  moral  sense  of  a  whole  church  to 
have  become  so  far  blunted  as  to  practice  such  duplicity. 
O,  God,  what  is  to  be  the  fate  of  Christianity  in  the  world 
when  it  is  thus  shamelessly  perverted? 

My  third  Sunday  was  spent  at  Troy,  Missouri,  which 
from  St.  Louis  is  about  fifty-three  miles  northwesterly; 
the  ride  to  it  passes  through  a  country  of  moderate  fer- 
tility, part  of  which  is  scantily  wooded,  and  a  part  consists 
of  prairies.  It  crosses  the  Missouri  river  at  St.  Charles, 
which  is  a  handsomely  situated,  paved,  and  well  built 
town.  Troy  is  the  seat  of  justice  for  Lincoln  county,  it  is 
a  small  place,  built  without  any  discernible  plan;  its  stores 
and  tenements  stand  where  they  do,  because  they  stand  no 
where  else.  They  shelter  an  excellent  community  of  peo- 
ple, nevertheless,  the  substratum  whereof  are  Yankees, 
who  emigrated  thither  forty  years  ago,  for  the  sake  of  a 
bounty  in  land  which  was  granted  by  the  Spanish  authori- 
ties to  actual  settlers,  previous  to  the  territory's  being 
purchased  by  the  United  States.  These  old  people  had, 
after  crossing  the  Mississippi,  to  cut  their  way  to  their 
present  abodes  through  a  forest  unbroken  save  l3y  prairie 
land. 

I  was  amused  on  my  way  to  Troy  at  the  imperturable 
philosophy  of  a  couple  of  hogs,  who  were  making  their 
meal  from  the  carcass  of  a  horse;  meanwhile  their  right 
in  the  carcass  was  being  noisily  disputed  by  a  flock  of 
carrion-crows,  which  were  flying  about  them  and  cawing, 
lighting  on  their  backs,  and  picking  them  most  energeti- 
cally with  their  beaks;  all  this,  however,  did  not  in  the 
least  disturb  the  equanimity  of  the  hogs;  they  kept  to  the 
point  with  a  most  business-like  perseverance,  not  stopping 
to  discuss  the  abstract  question  of  right,  but  keeping  at 
their  work  like  those  who  felt  that  they  owed  a  duty  to 
their  stomach's,  which  they  were  bent  on  discharging 
at  all  hazards;  they  even  treated  the  crows  as  if  they 
didn't  know  they  were  there.  Of  all  your  practical  phi- 
losophers, commend  me  to  the  hog.  Very  sage  precepts, 
and  rules  of  life,  may  be  drawn  from  Plato,  Epictetus, 
Solon,  and  others,  but  the  hog  concerns  not  himself  at 
all  about  maxims — the  practical  part  of  the 'matter  is  what 
engrosses  his  attention.  He  may  lose  an  ear  or  tail  in 
quest  of  a  dinner,  but  as  these  appendages  merely  set  off 
his  personal  appearance  to  advantage,  he  can  easily  resign 
himself  to  their  loss  ;  for  being  a  rigid   utilitarian,  and 


372         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

without  a  particle  of  poetry  in  his  composition,  he  sets 
little  value  on  the  mere  ornamental  parts  of  life. 

I  preached  three  sermons  in  Troy,  to  very  good  and 
attentive  congregations.  The  Court-house  is  the  only 
building  used  as  a  house  of  worship  in  the  place.  Our 
friends  there  are  not  numerous,  nor  wealthy,  but  they  are 
strong  in  purpose,  and  by  their  excellency  of  character 
do  credit  to  the  cause  they  profess. 

About  half  way  between  St.  Louis  and  Troy,  on  the 
waters  of  Dardine,  is  another  little  society  of  Universal- 
ists.  Esquire  Farnsworth,  whose  family  constitute  its 
principal  members,  is  one  of  the  stock  of  old  membei*s 
aforementioned.  I  delivered  two  sermons  there,  and  made 
Esquire  Farnsworth's  hospitable  home  my  resting  place, 

I  was  to  have  been  in  Princeton,  Kentucky,  on  the 
fourth  Sunday  in  December.  Well,  early  in  the  week 
preceding  I  bespoke  a  passage  to  Smithland,  in  a  boat  that 
was  positively  to  leave  at  ten  o'clock,  A.  M.  on  Wednesday. 
She  was  so  far  punctual  that  she  started  forty-nine  houi*s 
after  that  time,  which  certainly  was  acting  more  nearly  up 
to  promise  than  western  boats  sometimes  do.  Steamboat 
Captains  and  clerks  are  usually  a  gentlemanly  class  of 
men;  it  is  to  be  hoped,  for  their  sakes,  that  the  punishment 
for  lying  is  something  more  agreeable  than  the  being 
roasted  in  fire  and  brimstone. 

Finding  that  I  could  not  reach  Princeton  in  time  for  my 
appointment,  I  got  into  another  boat  and  went  up  the  river, 
to  Alton,  111.,  where  I  remained  until  the  following  Wednes- 
day, with  J.  P  Owen,  of  the  Upper  village,  in  whom  and 
his  wife,  I  found  a  brother  and  sister  indeed.  Alton  occu- 
pies a  high  and  very  broken  site,  on  the  east  shore  of  the 
Mississippi,  about  two  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
souri: it  is  doubtless  a  busy;  but  very  unsightly  place:  its 
buildings  are  devoid  of  elegance  its  main  business  street 
is  narrow,  and  in  wet  seasons,  excessively  miry.  Upper 
Alton  is  distant  from  Lower  about  three  miles.  A  Bap- 
tist College  is  there  located:  it  is  a  massive  fabric  of  brick, 
in  a  better  style  of  architecture  than  college  buildings 
usually  exhibit. 

I  read,  while  at  Alton,  the  life  of  Lovejoy,  who  some 
years  ago  was  killed  by  a  mob  at  that  place,  on  account  of 
his  persevering  advocacy  of  negro  emancipation.  It  was 
a  misfortune  for  the  memory  of  Lovejoy — a  misfortune 
for  the  cause  to  which  he  was  a  martyr,  that  he  died  with 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  373 

arms  in  his  hands,  and,  if  public  report  belie  him  not,  with 
the  blood  of  one  of  his  murderers  on  his  skirts:  it  had 
been  better  for  him  to  die  praying  for  his  murderers,  in 
imitation  of  his  Lord,  rather  than  in  resisting  unto  blood; 
nevertheless  I  deny  not  that  his  course  was  justifiable,  on 
legal  and  even  on  simply  moral  grounds. 

In  company  with  Mr.  Owen  I  visited  the  burial  ground 
in  which  he  was  interred.     It  is  large,  and  has  once  been 
well  enclosed,  but  the  paling  is  now  in  a  ruinous  state: 
the  yard  is  much  overrun  with  scrub-oak  bushes.     The 
stone    slabs   and  monuments    are  broken    and  lie  strewn 
about,  and  the  whole  scene  is  adapted  to  bring  to  the  medi- 
tative heart  the  chilling  truth,  that  the  dead  soon  lose  their 
places  in   the  remembrance  of  the  living.     Among  other 
ruins  I  noticed  a   beautiful  obelisk  lying  prostrate,  and 
broken:  it  was  evident  that  some  Vandal  agency  had  been 
employed  in  effecting  such  dilapidations,  and  to  me  it  is  a 
mystery    how   surviving    friends,    after    testifying    their 
respect  by  the  erection  of  costly  tombs  and  columns,  should 
suffer  the  sacred  precincts  to  be  thus  desecrated  for  lack 
of  a  little  cost  or  care  to  keep  up  the  enclosure!     It  was 
with  some  difficulty  we  were  enabled  to  identify  Lovejoy's 
grave:  the  memoir  describes  it  as  lying  between  two  oak 
trees,  with  the  head  to  the  north  and  the  foot  to  the  south. 
We  at  length  turned  over  a  decayed  piece  of  board  on 
which  we  found  his  initials ;  this  was  the  head-board  of 
Lovejoy's  grave !  it  is  little  larger  than  an  ordinary  shin- 
gle, the  letters  on  it  will  soon  be  obliterated,  and  then,  as 
no  mound  or  other  token  distinguishes  the  spot  as  a  grave, 
it  will  be  hard  to  designate  the  spot  where  sleeps  the  mar- 
tyred Lovejoyl     Alas!  for  him — if  worldly  ambition  was 
his  object,  he  hath  his  reward. 

I  arrived  in  Nashville  on  Thursday  evening,  and  on 
Saturday,  the  6th,  proceeded  on  to  Robertson  county, 
thirty  miles  due  north  from  Nashville,  in  a  vehicle  sent 
to  convey  me  thither.  Arthur  Woodard,  of  this  district,  is 
a  striking  instance  of  the  much  that  can  be  accomplished 
for  a  good  cause  by  a  zealous  and  liberal  layman:  to  him, 
as  an  instrument,  is  mainly  owing  the  mental  emancipa- 
tion of  the  numerous  individuals  in  Robertson  county, 
who  are  now  rejoicing  in  the  gospel  of  a  world's  salvation: 
he  is  at  great  pains  to  procure  a  copy  of  every  new  book 
that  issues  from  the  Universalist  press;  several  of  these  he 
has  had  sent  him  by  mail  at  a  postage  equaling  their  retail 


374        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

cost:  he  has  lent  them  freely  to  all  who  were  willing  to 
read:  he  solicits  patronage  to  our  periodicals,  and  collects 
the  pay  for  the  same  when  due;  for  those  who  have  not 
the  money  by  them,  he  advances  it,  and  takes  the  risk  of 
being  repaid.  He  has  not  thus  liberally  sown  in  vain, 
on  the  contrary  he  has  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  a  fair 
harvest  of  truth  brightening  around  him.  Long  may  he 
live  to  aid  in  spreading  the  gospel,  and  to  rejoice  in  its 
triumphs! 

I  was  two  weeks  and  two  days  in  Robertson  county, 
and  delivered  in  the  time  nineteen  sermons;  the  weather 
was  for  the  most  of  the  time  very  inclement,  and  the 
nights  extremely  dark,  but  nothing  could  prevent  the  peo- 
ple from  turning  out.  The  interest  was  on  the  increase 
during  the  whole  term  of  my  stay;  even  the  women  with 
babies  would  attend  from  a  distance  of  several  miles, 
riding  on  horseback  through  mud  and  darkness.  Dogs  in 
a  considerable  number  attended  too,  "  but  the  word  spoken 
did  not  profit  them,  not  being  mixed  with  faith  in  them 
that  heard  it."  Neither  babies  nor  dogs  are  profitable 
auditors,  to  my  thinking;  the  latter  will  get  to  growling 
sometimes,  and  the  former  will  set  up  a  squalling  almost 
always,  and  this  sort  of  music,  methinks,  is  no  aid  to  the 
general  devotion,  nor  has  it  any  great  respect  for  the  rules 
of  harmony. 

Robertson  county,  and  indeed  all  that  part  of  Tennes- . 
see,  and  the  adjoining  region  of  Kentucky,  abounds  with 
caves,  springs,  and  rivulets,  of  a  most  picturesque  descrip- 
tion; nearly  every  cave  in  the  country  is  the  birth-place 
of  a  rivulet,  which  rushes  from  it  with  rapidity  as  if  in 
haste  to  escape  from  its  dark  prison  and  cheer  itself  in  the 
sun-beams.  Either  of  these  would  be  a  little  fortune  to 
a  person  in  the  vicinity  of  a  large  city;  thousands  would 
resort  to  it  in  sultry  weather  for  the  coolness  and  poetry 
of  the  scene.  One  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Menice — for- 
merly a  Baptist  preacher,  at  whose  residence  1  held  one 
of  my  meetings — exceeds  in  romantic  prettiness  anything 
of  the  kind  1  ever  saw;  the  cave  is  only  about  twenty 
yards  in  horizontal  depth — its  base  on  a  plain  with  the 
ground;  it  resembles  a  mimic  gothic  arch,  about  four  feet 
high,  and  three  feet  wide  at  the  base:  from  its  smoothness 
and  uniformity  of  figure,  it  has  the  appearance  of  having 
been  chisled  out  of  the  solid  rock  by  human  art;  and  as  the 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIS!  PREACHER.  375 

rock  is  of  whitish  limestone,  the  cavity  is  sufficiently  light 
for  the  eye  to  scan  it  in  all  parts;  its  whole  breadth  is 
occupied  by  the  rivulet,  which  seems  to  gush  in  full  vol- 
ume from  its  innermost  end.  For  mere  beauty  this  little 
cave  and  spring  carry  off  the  palm  from  anything  I  have 
overseen.  On  Thomas  Woodward's  place  is  a  cave,  and  a 
stream  issuing  from  it,  on  a  larger  and  ruder  scale;  this 
stream  is  so  large  as  to  turn  a  grist-mill  within  a  few 
yards  of  its  source.  Near  Arthur  Woodward's  again,  are 
a  cave  and  spring  which  differ  from  the  two  former;  in 
this  case,  the  rivulet,  after  escaping  from  its  prison,  runs 
in  a  less  broken  and  interrupted  channel;  it  winds  in  easy 
and  graceful  curves,  pent  by  solid  rocks,  along  its  whole 
length,  within  a  channel  so  narrow  that  one  can  anywhere 
step  across  it,  and  its  depth,  withal,  is  so  uniform  as  to 
give  it  the  appearance  of  a  race  cut  out  by  hand.  Fancy, 
reader,  such  a  rock-bound  and  winding  rivulet;  pelucid  as 
a  dew-drop;  singing  its  own  merry  little  song  as  it  goes 
gliding  under  green  arcades  of  natures  own  formation — 
what  a  thing  to  be  dreamed  of  by  the  parched  subject  of  a 
fever!  What  a  picture  to  haunt  the  fancy  of  a  toil-worn 
traveler  over  scorched  and  sandy  wastes! 

1  was  conveyed  back  to  Nashville,  where,  in  the  course 
of  my  sermon  T  reviewed  an  argument  against  Universal- 
ism,  which  I  have  more  than  once  heard  from  Methodists, 
and  only  from  them. 

Thus  it  runneth,  When  in  this  world  saints  are  shout- 
ing and  praising  God,  sinners  are  not  comfortable  among 
them,  they  make  it  manifjst  that  they  are  out  of  their 
element.  Ergo,  sinners,  if  even  they  were  admitted  into 
heaven,  would  be  incapable  of  enjoying  themselves  there 
— the  employments  there  would  be  unsuited  to  their 
tastes,  etc.  I  showed  that  this  argument  proves  too  much. 
Bring  a  Quaker,  said  I,  into  a  noisy  Methodist  meet- 
ing— will  he  enjoy  its  hubbub?  No,  surely,  he  will  suspect 
the  worshippers  of  being  crazy,  or  something  worse.  On 
the  other  hand,  take  a  noisy  Methodist  into  a  quiet  Quaker 
meeting.  How  now?  If  he  stay  there,  he  will  assuredly 
go  to  sleep.  I  went  on  farther  and  showed  that  Protestants 
are  not  comfortable  amidst  the  worship  of  the  Ca!  holies, 
nor  the  latter  amidst  the  worship  of  the  former;  nor  the 
different  protestant  sects  amidst  the  worship  of  each  other, 
etc.  What  then?  Why  this  :  all  sects  but  those  who  exact- 
ly coincide  must   be  kept  out  of  heaven,  for  none  else 


376         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

would  be  comfortable  there,  inasmuch  as  they  are  not  here! 
Princeton,  Kentucky,  was  my  next  destination,  it  is  the 
seat  of  justice  for  Caldwell  county,  and  contains  a  Cumber- 
land Presbyterian  College.  From  Eddyville  on  the  Cum- 
berland river,  forty-five  miles  above  its  junction  with  the 
Ohio,  Princeton  is  twelve  miles.  I  debarked  at  the  former 
point  on  Saturday  evening  after  dark,  and  walked  the  next 
morning  the  twelve  miles  between  it  and  the  latter.  The 
morning  was  very,  very  cold,  the  road  deeply  cut  up,  was 
frozen  as  hard  as  a  rock,  and  almost  impassably  rough.  I 
walked,  because  to  have  rode  would  have  been  a  cold  and 
slow  operation,  and  my  appointment  demanded  that  I 
should  go  at  some  rate.  Let  no  future  slanderer  of  our 
faith  cite  the  instance  of  this  Sabbath-day  walk,  as  an  il- 
lustration of  the  evil  tendencies  of  Universalism;  for  I 
met  a  Methodist  preacher  riding  to  his  appointment;  but 
perhaps  there  is  not  so  much  sin  in  breaking  the  Sabbath 
on  horeback,  as  on  foot;  the  latter  being  a  more  vulgar 
mode  of  locomotion. 

I  commenced  my  meetings  at  Princeton  in  the  Metho- 
dist church,  which  I  occupied  three  successive  nights, 
preaching  to  large  congregations,  composed  of  persons 
of  all  sects.  I  had  obtained  the  grant  of  the  house 
for  the  whole  series  of  meetings,  but  on  the  fourth  day 
there  arrived  a  very  great  personage;  ^'Preacher  in 
Charge,''"'  is  his  august  title,  and  the  master  by  virtue 
thereof,  is  he,  of  the  souls,  bodies,  and  churches  of  all  the 
Methodists  within  his  jurisdiction,  and,  some  say,  of  their 
hen-roosts  to  boot;  but  for  that  I  will  not  avouch.  At  all 
events  this  stupendous  personage  locked  the  door  against 
me  on  the  fourth  night,  and  put  the  key  in  his  pocket.  I 
therefore  held  the  residue  of  my  meetings,  in  the  Semi- 
nary kept  and  owned  by  J.  C.  Weller,  Esq.,  who,  though 
an  avowed  Universalist,  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist 
church,  and  one  of  its  main  stays.  My  congregation  suf- 
fered no  diminution  in  consequence  of  my  unceremoni- 
ous ejectment  from  the  meeting-house.  The  weather  was 
as  inclement  as  it  could  well  be,  and  the  walking  almost 
impracticable,  but  through  it  all,  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren continued  their  attendance  with  undiscourageable 
perseverance.  To  what  effect  I  preached  at  Princeton, 
and  the  people  listened,  time  will  make  manifest.  I  had 
some  of  their  clergy  to  hear  me  nearly  every  night,  and 
the  President  of  the  College  among  the  rest 


OF   A   UNIVERSALIST   PREACHKR.  377 

It  was  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  February 
12th,  1844,  when  I  landed  at  Vicksburg.  It  is  not  a  place 
for  a  stranger  to  feel  his  way  into,  from  the  landing,  of  a 
dark  night;  in  good  sooth  he  would  need  twenty  necks, 
and  might  be  thankful  if  he  broke  no  more  than  nineteen 
of  them  in  the  attempt.  As  I  have  but  one  such  conve- 
nience, I  did  not  try  it,  but  took  lodging  until  morning  in 
one  of  the  store-boats,  where  such  accommodations  are 
afforded.  My  bed  was  a  sort  of  upper  shelf  in  a  narrow 
closet;  magniloquently  entitled  a  state-room;  with  a  single 
dirty  affair  called  a  comfortable,  scarcely  a  yard  in  width, 
for  a  covering;  and  for  this  accommodation  from  two  till 
six  o'clock,  I  was  charged  fifty  cents,  and  thirty-seven-and- 
a-half  cents  for  the  shelter  of  my  baggage  during  the 
same  time.  So  no  one  need  covet  a  night's  debarkation  at 
Vicksburg,  nor  indeed  at  any  other  point  on  these  southern 
shores.  A  loafer  who  was  just  drunk  enough  to  be  super- 
abundantly good-natured  and  super-serviceable,  dogged  me 
with  his  polite  attentions  from  the  moment  of  my  landing 
until  I  was  lighted  up  to  my  lodgings.  I  first  had  to  satis- 
fy his  curiosity  as  to  the  contents  of  my  trunk,  which  be- 
ing filled  with  books,  was  very  heavy;  then  I  had  to  tell 
him  my  name,  avocation,  faith,  etc.  At  the  mention  of  my 
faith  he  redoubled  his  kind  interest  in  my  behalf,  on  his 
good  mother's  account,  as  he  said,  who  was  a  Universalist, 
and  one  of  the  best  of  women;  but  as  to  himself,  he  em- 
phatically declared,  he  never  could  believe  in  that  doc- 
trine; he  was  afraid  to  risk  it;  afraid  it  wouldn't  float  a 
man  when  his  boat  went  down;  there  must  be  a  hell;  if 
there  was  not,  people  would  get  drunk,  steal,  and  do  all 
sorts  of  mischief,  etc.  Poor  fellow!  he  talked  no  better 
sense  on  the  subject  than  even  orthodox  preachers  usu- 
ally do. 

After  rambling  about  the  town  and  its  environs  till  I 
was  weary,  I  inquired  my  way  to  the  residence  of  Judge 
Springer,  where  I  was  readily  welcomed,  and  remained 
until  the  next  day,  when  I  took  passage  on  the  railroad  to 
Jackson,  the  State  capital,  which  is  distant  from  Vicksburg 
fifty-six  miles. 

My  night  meetings  were  held  in  the  old  State  House, 

used  at  present  as  the  Presbyterian  chapel.     On  Sunday, 

through  the  intervention  of  the  President  of  the  Senate,  I 

twice   occupied  the  Senate  Chamber,   than    which    it   is 

25 


378  EXPERIENCE,    LABORS,   AlSrB>  TRAVELS 

doubtful  if  there  is  a  more  magnificent  public  hall  in  the 
United  States,  except  in  the  capitol  at  Washington. 

I  proceeded,  on  Monday,  19th,  to  Brandon,  twelve  miles- 
easterly  from  Jackson,  on  a  mule  that  was  sent  from 
thence  for  my  use;  it  proved  to  be  as  unreasonable  a  brute 
as  ever  prophet,  since  Balaam,  bestrode;  it  was  callous  ta 
every  form  of  argument  which  1  could  address  to  it,  and 
when  I  tried  the  argu?nentum  ad  hominem,  in  the  form  of  a 
whip  and  spwr,  it  maintained  so  dogged  an  indifference 
as  to  convince  me  that  the  same  had  been  applied  to  it 
with  much  greater  emphasis  before;  it  was  clearly  an  incor- 
rigible case.  The  result  was,  I  got  benighted,  and  did  not 
reach  Brandon  in  time  for  my  appointment  by  more  than 
an  hour.  However,  1  commenced  on  the  next  evening, 
and  continued  my  lectores  till  over  the  following  Sabbath,, 
delivermg  there  and  in  the  vicinity,  eight  in  all.  The 
Presbyterian  clergyman  was  a  regular  attendant,  and  was- 
steadily  employed  in  taking  notes,  of  which,  no  doubt,  he 
meant  to  make  free  use  when  I  should  leave  the  parts. 

I  returned  to  Jackson,  on  the  26th,  and  preached  for 
four  successive  evenings;  thus  my  lectures  in  Jackson 
amounted  to  eight  in  all.  1  had  the  attendance  of  the 
Governor  on  one  or  two  evenings,  and  of  several  gentle- 
men of  high  respectability  and  intelligence,  through  the 
course.  My  audience,  howevei*,  except  on  the  Sabbath, 
was  not  large  :  not  exceeding  from  forty  to  sixty  persons; 
yet  they  were  said  to  be  very  good,  "  considering" — that 
is,  considering  that  the  Jacksonians,  like  the  citizens  of 
southern  towns  generally,  are  in  little  danger  of  going 
crazy  on  the  subject  of  religion;  and  yet,  strange  to  say, 
they  are  all  of  them  quite  sure  there  is  a  hell  in  another 
world,  for  the  punishment  of  those  who  are  irreligious  in 
this!  In  addition  to  the  regular  hearers,  we  had  every 
night,  more  or  less,  of  what  may  be  termed  "  a  floating 
population ;"  these  were  such  as,  in  passing,  would  step  in 
to  gratify  curiosity  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  step  out 
again.  And  some  of  these  (the  Marshal  of  the  district,  in 
particular,)  really  took  it  in  high  dudgeon  because  I  de- 
murred at  being  thus  treated  with  as  little  reverence  as 
though  I  were  a  political  harranguer,  or  the  master  ©f  a 
dancing  bear!  "High  times,  by  G— d!  that  a  gentleman 
can't,  in  a  free  country,  run  in  and  out  of  church  to  suit 
his  own  convenience!"" 

I  had  to  exeircise  my  utmost  ingenuity  to  keep  together 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  37 Q' 

the  slender  audience  which  tardily  and  scatteringly  col- 
lected. Not  two  minutes  must  pass  without  some  kind  of 
exercise,  or  I  should  doubtless  have  lost  the  half  of  them 
in  the  interval;  for  in  the  larger  southern  towns  the  people 
are  characterized  by  that  restlessness  of  habit  which 
makes  them  impatient  of  every  thing  which  does  not 
tend  either  to  their  pleasure  or  wordly  interest.  Pleasure 
and  gain  are  the  deities  at  whose  shrine  every  knee  bows^ 
and  every  soul  does  homage.  The  God  of  heaven  only 
knows,  whether  the  heart's  oiferings  at  his  own  throne  are 
nearly  as  sincere  and  undivided. 

I  arrived  by  steamboat  at  Memphis,  on  the  afternoon^ 
of  March  25th.  On  inquiring  for  a  Universalist,  I  was  re- 
ferred to  Mr.  Chase,  who  recognized  me  without  an  intro- 
duction, as  he  had  heard  me  preach  in  the  interior  of  the 
State  several  years  before.  He  immediately  went  with 
me  to  the  residence  of  Z.  Rudolph,  who  also  proved  to  be 
a  former  acquaintance,  in  whose  company  I  had  several 
times  been  at  Elkton,  Maryland.  I,  of  course,  felt  much 
at  my  ease  there,  and  continued  in  the  place  for  two  weeks, 
"  preaching  the  kingdom  of  God."  This  was  the  first 
preaching  of  the  kind  that  had  ever  been  heard  in  that 
thriving  and  superbly  situated  town.  It  was  listened  to 
with  attention,  and  ardent  wishes  were  expressed  for  the 
permanent  settlement  of  one  of  our  ministers  there, 
which  circumstance  has  since  happily  taken  place. 

The  influence  of  Universalism  is  much  needed  in  the 
South;  it  is  needed  not  only  for  the  benevolence  and  mild- 
ness it  would  infuse  into  the  public  heart,  but  also  for  the 
deeper  conviction  it  would  beget  of  the  truth  of  Christian- 
ity; the  greater  confidence  it  would  inspire  relative  to  the 
goodness  and  superintending  care  of  the  Creator;  the  new 
beauty  it  would  enable  the  people  to  discern  in  the  pages 
of  inspiration,  and  the  apparent  doubtfulness,  mysticism, 
inconsistency,  and  contradictions,  which  it  would  remove 
therefrom. 

Gentlemen  in  the  South,  of  the  first  eminence,  many 
such,  have  expressed  to  me  the  delight  they  experienced 
at  finding,  from  my  representations  of  the  Scriptures,  that 
they  covld  be  Christians  without  a  surrender  of  their  reason, 
or  a  shock  to  their  benevolence. 


380         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

Various  journeyings  in  North-western  Penrs»lvania,  Western  New 
York,  Upper  Canada,  Michigan,  Indiana,  and  Illinois. 

I  left  the  Queen  City  on  the  20th  of  June,  1844,  in  the 
packet  Ashland,  which,  with  another  of  inferior  elegance 
and  accommodation,  plies  regularly  between  Cincinnati 
and  Portsmouth.  I  found  myself  at  the  latter  place  on 
waking  next  morning,  and  I  sauntered  over  it  for  the 
double  purpose  of  a  survey,  and  of  finding  a  co-believer. 
I  succeeded  but  indifferently  in  the  latter  object,  and  had 
just  began  to  feel  fatigued  and  lonesome,  when  a  known 
and  friendly  voice  greeted  me  by  name;  the  owner  whereof 
proved  a  particular  acquaintance,  who  had  a  canal-boat  in 
charge,  which  was  in  an  hour  or  two  to  start  for  my  point 
of  destination.  Of  course  1  became  a  willing  passenger 
with  him. 

Reached  Chillicothe  the  next  evening,  where  I  found 
Thomas  Gilmer,  with  whom  I  tarried,  and  for  whom  I 
preached  on  the  Sabbath,  morning  and  evening.  Chilli- 
cothe is  an  elegant  little  city,  well  shaded,  well  paved,  and 
containing  a  larger  proportion  of  tasteful  edifices  than 
any  other  town  of  similar  size  in  the  State. 

On  Monday,  Thomas  Gilmer  drove  me  to  Circleville, 
nineteen  miles,  whence  the  same  evening  I  took  another 
boat  bound  for  Cleveland;  where,  with  our  then  pastor 
there,  G.  H.  Emerson,  I  tarried  a  pleasant  day  or  two, 
waiting  for  a  boat,  and  bathing,  meanwhile,  in  the  pure 
and  bracing  waters  of  the  Lake.  Bathing  is  a  luxury 
which,  in  the  season  for  it,  I  never  forego,  when  an  oppor- 
tunity affords  for  indulgence  therein,  and  that  as  well  for 
the  health  as  for  the  pleasantness  thereof 

It  was  nearly  sun-down,  when  the  steamer  Missouri,  in 
which  I  took  passage  from  Cleveland,  touched  at  the  wharf 
in  Erie  harbor.  Am.ongst  the  crowd  collected  there,  of 
porters  in  quest  of  employment,  and  friends  in  quest  of 
friends,  I  soon  saw  the  eager  eyes  of  Henry  Gifford  glan- 
cing over  the  mass  of  passengers  who  thronged  the  deck, 
in  the  expectation  of  their  lighting  on  a  certain  personage 
from  Cincinnati,  of  whose  purposed  coming  on  that  day 
he  had  been  forewarned.  Nature  has  kindly  furnished 
little  men  with  an  instinct  for  making  a  due  amount  of 
fuss,  to  avoid  being  lost  sight  of  in  the  thronged  pathways 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  381 

of  life,  and  I  was  not  long  in  attracting  my  friend's  eye  to 
the  right  spot. 

Erie  does  not  present  a  business-doing  aspect,  but  it  is 
a  charmingly  pleasant  town;  it  is  well  built;  and  from  it 
radiate  roads  in  various  directions  of  the  very  finest  char- 
acter. The  country  through  which  these  run  is  but 
slightly  undulated,  of  very  pleasing  surface,  and  affording 
at  intervals,  when  the  eye  is  directed  lakeward,  the  most 
gorgeous  prospects  imaginable. 

My  stay  in  Erie  was  from  the  evening  of  the  3d,  till 
the  evening  of  the  16th,  during  all  of  which  time  I  was 
the  guest  of  Henry  Gifford;  from  whom  and  his  wife  I 
received  the  attentions  which  but  accorded  with  the  uni- 
form kindness  of  their  character. 

I  embarked  on  the  General  Wayne,  on  the  evening  of 
the  16th;  and  found  myself  in  the  harbor  of  Buffalo  next 
morning.  As  compared  with  Cincinnati  that  city  is  more 
magnificently  built;  its  streets  are  broader,  and,  (what  the 
latter,  much  to  its  discredit,  has  not)  it  has  public  squares. 
Its  harbor,  too,  is  incomparably  more  crowded  with  vessels, 
of  every  size  and  rig,  and  presents  a  greater  show  of 
business.  Yet,  withal,  Cincinnati,  to  my  fancy,  is  a  far 
pleasanter  city — its  buildings  exhibit  less  pretention,  in- 
deed, but  they  are  in  better  taste,  and  wear  a  more  com- 
fortable air. 

On  the  10th  of  June,  I  started  for  the  great  falls,  in  the 
steamer  Waterloo.  The  scenery,  as  we  glided  down  the 
Niagara  river,  fell  greatly  short  of  my  expectations.  The 
shores  are  ^t,  and  the  improvements  on  either  side  are 
nothing  to  boast  of.  The  only  noticeably  beautiful  feature 
in  the  landscape  is  the  stream  itself;  so  rapid,  so  deeply 
blue,  so  clear  withal.  And  then  its  destiny!  to  descend, 
by  a  single  plunge,  into  a  gulf  of  two  hundred  feet  in 
depth ! 

After  the  many  descriptions  of  Niagara,  which  have 
been  given  by  various  hands,  an  attempt  at  the  same  by 
mine  might  seem  presumptuous.  But,  reader,  in  one 
respect  these  same  falls  have  been  exaggerated;  they  are 
not  as  overwhelmingly  sublime,  as  they  are  generally  de- 
scribed as  being.  Truth  is,  that  the  beautiful  in  that  most 
gorgeous  scene  far  transcends  the  awful.  Or,  it  may  be 
more  accurate  to  say,  that  the  beautiful  is  so  transcendant, 
at  least,  as  to  detract  from  that  gloomy  grandeur  which 
is  so  essential   an  element  in  the  sublime.     Oh!  it   is  ua- 


382         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

speakably  beautiful.  In  this  respect  no  pen  has  done  it 
justice;  no  pen  can  do  so.  A  feather  from  an  angel's 
wing,  dipped  in  rainbow  hues,  might  approximate  a  descrip- 
tion of  it;  but  it  is  impious  presumption  for  human  hand 
to  attempt  it.  Every  thing  in  its  vicinity  is  beautiful. 
Goats  Island,  which  divides  the  cataract,  is  a  perfect  gem 
of  beauty;  and  the  woods  which  skirt  the  falls  on  the 
American  side,  are  so  exquisite  a  scene  as  utterly  to  defy 
description. 

But,  for  the  life  of  me,  I  could  not  work  up  myself  into 
feelings  of  awe — I  tried  to  do  so;  I  went,  all  alone,  into 
points  of  view  best  adapted  to  inspire  such  feelings.  I 
reflected  that  the  wide  and  deep  river  over  which  I  had 
glided  but  a  few  hours  previous,  the  only  issue  from  the 
inland  oceans  of  Erie,  Huron,  Michigan,  and  Superior, 
was  tumbling  at  my  feet  from  the  height  of  nearly  thirty 
fathoms.  But  it  all  availed  not — my  soul  was  drunk  with 
the  magnificent  heauty  of  the  scene,  and  every  other 
feeling  yielded  to  that  of  ineffable  delight. 

After  seeing  all  that  I  could  see  by  myself,  I  went  up  to 
the  village,  and  found  D.  H.  Strickland,  pastor  of  the  Uni- 
versalist  Society  there,  who  accompanied  me  everywhere, 
where  any  thing  of  interest  was  to  be  seen.  We  bathed 
in  the  blue  waters  below  the  falls,  within  the  reach  of 
their  spray  ;  we  also  visited  the  whirlpool,  three  miles 
below,  which,  on  my  mind,  produced  a  feeling  more  nearly 
allied  to  awe  than  any  which  the  falls  inspired.  Fancy 
a  gulph  of  three  hundred  feet  in  depth,  with  rocky,  and 
nearly  perpendicular  sides,  and  along  the  bottom  thereof 
a  stream  of  most  profound  depth,  rolling  onward  with  a 
current  of  terrific  rapidity.  A  sudden  bend  in  this  rugged 
gulph  produces  the  whirlpool,  by  the  check  which  the 
stream  there  receives  from  the  wall  of  rock  which  opposes 
it  at  a  right  angle.  It  is  a  grand  sight,  if  there  happen 
to  be  timbers  in  the  pool,  which  was  the  case  when  I  saw 
it,  to  see  them  passing  each  other  in  opposite  directions, 
and  every  now  and  then  one  of  them  brought  by  a  sudden 
whirl  into  a  perpendicular  position. 

On  Thursday,  I  returned  to  Chippewa,  and  embarked  on 
the  steamer  Emerald  for  Port  Robinson,  ten  miles  up  the 
Chippewa  River.  There  I  saw  some  red-coated  negro 
soldiers,  who  looked,  and  apparently  felt,  "  ever  so  fine." 
From  thence  I  passed  in  a  boat  up  the  Welland  Canal, 
twenty-eight    miles,  to   Dunville,   where    commences    the 


OF   A    UN.rVERSALIST    PREACHER.  383 

Grand  River  feeder  of  said  canal,  which  has  three  times 
the  width  of  the  Miami  canal  in  Ohio.  Dunville  affords 
great  inducements  to  frogs  and  mud-turtles,  seeing  that  its 
streets  abound  with  puddles;  and  there  is  little  else  with 
which  it  does  abound,  except,  perchance,  such  kinds  of 
ifilth  as  would  be  to  the  taste  of  those  aquatics. 

From  Dunville  to  Braatford  is  fifty-six  miles,  by  the 
Grand  River,  which  is  rendered  navigable  by  locks  and 
•dams.  I  passed  it  in  a  steamboat  which  plies  regularly 
between  the  two  places.  For  about  half  the  distance  the 
shores  of  the  river  are  low  and  marshy,  and  are  wooded 
with  pines,  but  for  the  residue  of  the  way  they  are  higher 
and  pleasingly  varied.  Brantford  is  a  town  containing 
full  one  thousand  inhabitants :  it  has  a  handsome  position 
amidst  a  fertile  territory.  Thence  to  London  is  sixty- 
three  miles,  which  I  passed  in  the  stage,  and  saw  on  the 
route  a  much  finer  country  than  I  was  prepared  to  see  in: 
Canada;  much  of  it,  indeed,  was  as  beautiful  in  surface, 
and  as  rich  in  soil,  as  even  any  part  of  the  West  can 
exhibit. 

London,  is  on  the  river  Thames:  where  felse  should 
London  be?  It  contains  some  two  thousand  five  hundred 
inhabitants,  independently  of  the  English  troops  which  are 
cantoned  there.  It  has  not  much  to  boast  in  the  way  of 
edifices,  public  or  private,  and  its  main,  almost  only,  busi- 
ness dependence,  is  on  the  trade  with  the  farming  commu- 
nity for  many  miles  around  it.  A  Universalist  church  had 
been  formed  by  the  labors  of  A.  G.Laurie,  previous  to  my 
visit,  and  a  meeting-house  was  in  course  of  erection.  I 
delivered  a  number  of  sermons  in  the  town,  to  good  con- 
gregations; and  enjoyed,  altogether,  an  exceedingly  agrea- 
ble  time  there. 

From  London  I  was  conducted  to  St.  Thomas,  sixteen 
miles,  and  thence  to  Sparta,  eleven  miles,  at  both  which 
places  I  preached.  Sparta  is  one  of  A.  G.  Laurie's  stated 
preaching  places.  My  meeting  there,  though  on  a  week 
day  in  harvest  time,  was  fully  attended.  From  hence, 
father  Miles,  an  intelligent  and  much  respected  old 
English  gentleman,  took  me  to  his  home  on  the  Lake 
shore,  near  which  I  preached  next  day. 

And  how  happens  it,  father  Miles,  inquired  I,  that  you 
chose  a  spot  so  lonely  as  this  for  a  residence,  and  so 
hemmed  in  by  forest  and  bad  roads?  The  amount  of  his 
answer  was,    that  having  adopted  the  Universalist  faith 


384  EXPERIENCE,    LABORS,    AND   TRAVELS 

whilst  a  member  of  a  Baptist  society  in  England,  he  incur- 
red much  persecution  thereby,  and,  in  disgust,  came  over 
to  Canada  and  located  in  a  secluded  place,  in  order  to  a 
quiet  enjoyment  of  his  religious  faith.  "And  I  must  far- 
ther confess,"  said  the  old  gentleman,  "that  the  remem- 
brance of  an  old  song  had  no  small  influence  on  my  choice 
of  a  situation — when  I  look  upon  the  blue  expanse  of  lake 
which  stretches  before  my  dwelling,  I  am  reminded  of  the 
songster's  wish  for 

"A  snng  elbow  chair,  just  fit  for  reclining, 
And  a  cot  that  overlooks  the  wide  sea." 

On  the  day  following,  father  Miles  conducted  me  to  Ayl- 
mer,  where  I  preached  at  night  to  a  very  large  congrega- 
tion, and  the  next  night  to  an  equally  large  one  at  Tem- 
peranceville,  where  I  was  joined  by  Mr.  Laurie,  who  came 
on  purpose,  (thirty-five  miles  from  his  home,)  to  conduct 
me  to  Smithville,  which,  from  London,  is  distant  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  miles. 

From  what  I  have  seen  of  it,  I  have  reason  to  think  that 
all  of  that  portion  of  Canada  which  lies  between  the  Lakes 
Huron,  Erie,  and  Ontario^  is  equal  both  in  fertility  and 
beauty  either  to  Western  New  York  or  Ohio.  Its  forest 
scenery  is  in  many  places  exceedingly  beautiful,  owing  to 
an  intermixture  of  pines,  spruices,  and  juniper,  with  oaks 
and  other  of  the  more  common  growths. 

On  Saturday,  August  10th,  commenced  the  meeting  at 
Smithfield,  called  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  Universal- 
ist  Convention  for  West  Canada:  it  concluded  on  the  fol- 
lowing Monday  night,  and  besides  eight  sermons  during 
its  continuance,  we  had  also  three  good,  feeling,  social 
meetings.  Smithville  was,  till  lately,  included  in  Mr.  Lau- 
rie's labor-ground,  but  the  field  becoming  too  large  for  his 
sole  occupancy,  he  was  compelled  to  restrict  his  labors  to 
the  region  about  London. 

On  Thursday,  12th,  Mr.  Laurie  conducted  me  to 
Brantford,  forty-five  miles,  where  I  preached  on  that 
evening  and  the  next.  Through  all  of  Canada  that  I  have 
seen,  the  practice  prevails  of  forming  their  trottiersy  or 
sidewalks,  of  pine  plank;  these  when  properly  laid  make 
not  only  a  clean  and  pleasant,  but  also,  as  I  am  told,  a  very 
durable  footway.  It  might  not,  however,  be  for  the  health 
of  some  of  our  Western  folks  to  adopt  them,  for  they  have 
been  so  long  accustomed  to  paddling  through  mud   and 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  385 

slop,  that  a  change  to  comfort  and  cleanliness  might  occa- 
sion a  violent  shock  to  their  constitutions.  The  plank 
roads  of  Canada  is  another  improvement  which  has  not 
yet  been  adopted  in  the  States.  It  is  as  much  superior  to 
M'Adamization,  as  the  latter  is  to  the  old-fashioned  mode 
of  turnpiking.  Horses  and  vehicles  pass  over  these 
roads  as  noiselessly  as  though  they  were  passing  over  tan- 
bark,  or  sawdust;  they  cannot  become  miry  at  any  time  of 
year;  neither  rains  nor  frost  can  affect  them,  and  they 
will  endure  ten  or  twelve  years  without  repairs. 

A.  G.  Laurie  took  leave  of  me  at  Brantford,  to  which 
point  he  had  conveyed  me,  (and  procured  me  conveyance,) 
over  a  distance  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  all. 
I  am  more  than  doubtful  whether  my  visit  to  Canada  was 
of  consequence  sufficient  to  repay  him  for  so  much  trouble 
and  cost  of  time. 

From  Brantford  I  was  conveyed  to  Jersey  Settlement, 
where  I  preached  at  night  in  the  dwelling  of  a  respectable 
old  Universalist,  who  had  never  before  heard  the  doctrine 
proclaimed  in  which  he  had  for  many  years  believed. — 
From  thence  I  was  'brought  on  my  way'  (in  Scripture 
phrase)  to  Hamilton,  twenty-six  miles  from  Brantford. 

Hamilton  has  a  population  of  five  or  six  thousand  souls. 
Its  position  is  on  the  southern  shore  of  a  fine  bay  at  the 
head  of  Lake  Ontario;  it  has  little  to  boast  of  at  present 
in  the  way  of  magnificent  buildings;  but  it  is  improving 
somewhat  in  that  respect,  and  it  will,  doubtless,  be  a  place 
of  commercial  importance  in  time. 

At  Hamilton  I  embarked  for  Toronto,  on  the  steamboat 
Gore,  which  is  a  fast-going,  snug,  and  comfortable  little 
craft.  Its  Captain  is  a  quiet  and  gentlemanly  little  man: 
its  dinners  by  no  means  anti-dyspeptical,  nor  according  to 
the  Graham  regimen;  in  short,  it  is  a  thoroughly  English 
affair  altogether,  even  to  the  roast  beef  and  plumb  pud- 
ding items  in  that  category.  With  Toronto  1  was  much 
pleased,  beyond  my  expectations;  it  is  nearly  as  large  a 
city  as  Buffalo,  and,  to  my  thinking,  a  more  agreeable 
one.  I  know  of  nothing  in  the  whole  United  States  that 
will  at  all  compare  with  the  grounds  connected  with  the 
Upper  Canada  College,  there;  they  are  indescribably 
beautiful,  and,  being  open  to  the  public,  they  form  a  de- 
lightful scene  for  summer-evening  strolls.  I  walked  up 
one  of  the  avenues,  which  was  nearly  a  mile  in  length. 
In  the  middle  runs  a  gravel  carriage-way:  on  each  side  of 


386         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

this  is  a  strip  of  smoothly  mown  grass,  and  outside  of  that 
a  stripe  of  bare  turf  for  footmen.  The  latter  is  skirted  by- 
beautiful  forest-trees,  of  various  kinds,  not  growing  in  arti- 
ficial rows,  but  in  a  hap-hazard  way;  as  if  nature  had 
had  her  own  way  with  them,  and  man  had  merely  allow- 
ed them  to  stand  in  the  beautiful  order  in  which  he  found 
them.  At  the  end  of  this  avenue,  another  forms  a  right 
angle  with  it  on  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  a  path  di- 
verges to  a  neat  and  shaded  Inn,  where,  on  summer  eve- 
nings, a  fine  band  is  kept  playing,  and  where  also — alas! 
that  it  should  be  so — distilled  ruin  is  allowed  to  be  sold 
by  the  small. 

King  street,  which  is  the  principal  business  avenue  of 
Toronto,  is  unsurpassed  in  the  splendor  of  its  stores,  and 
in  the  regularity  and  general  neatness  of  its  buildings,  by 
any  business  street  west  of  Philadelphia. 

At  Toronto  is  a  small  Universalist  society,  without  a 
meeting-house,  or  the  prospect  of  one,  except  it  may  be 
in  the  dim  distance,  so  far  that  a  strong  vision  of  faith  is 
requisite  to  see  it.  My  meetings  there  were  held  in  a 
suit  of  parlors,  belonging  to  an  honest  John  Bull,  who  was, 
till  recently,  a  deist,  and  whose  Methodist  wife  regards 
Universalism  with  great  favor,  because  of  its  having 
proved  the  means  of  making  her  husband  a  christian. 

Returning  to  Hamilton  on  Monday,  August  19th,  I 
preached  there  on  that  and  the  next  evenings,  and  was 
conducted  back  to  Smithville  on  Wednesday,  by  Joseph 
Forsythe,  who  came  thither  for  that  purpose,  a  distance  of 
twenty-three  miles;  which  was  a  trouble  quite  dispropor- 
tionate to  the  end  obtained,  but  1  could  not  make  the  kind- 
hearted  Smithville  friends  believe  it  so.  After  preaching 
for  them  on  Wednesday  and  Thursday  nights,  they  again 
conducted  me  to  the  Falls,  twenty-six  miles,  where  1  was 
to  preach  on  Friday  night.  Judge  of  my  pleasure,  and 
of  the  home-feeling  which  sprang  up  in  my  heart,  when, 
on  arriving  at  the  Falls,  I  found  myself  greeted  by  D.  R. 
Biddlecome,  his  sister,  wife,  and  wife's  sister.  Why,  I 
was  back  in  Ohio  again  at  once.  It  was  next  thing  to 
hearing  a  bark  of  welcome  from  my  own  house-dog. 

Subsequent  to  my  tour  in  Canada,  I  visited  Nathaniel 
Stacey,  at  Columbus,  Pennsylvania,  which  is  forty  miles 
from  the  town  of  Erie.  We  have  not  in  our  denomina- 
tion a  minister  who  is  more  beloved  and  venerated,  or  who 
deserves  to  be  so.     He  is  a  man  of  patriarchal  simplicity 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  387 

of  character,  and  closely  approximating  his  seventieth 
year.  His  sole  property  is  an  indifferent  dwelling,  with 
an  acre  of  ground  thereto  pertaining;  which  latter  he 
cultivates  with  great  industry  and  judgment.  He  also 
preaches  every  Sunday,  either  at  home  or  elsewhere,  be- 
sides making  occasional  distant  excursions,  when  profes- 
sional engagements  so  require.  The  old  gentleman  got  a 
horse  and  buggy,  and  took  me  about  to  introduce  me  to  his 
people.  For  full  three  miles  in  one  direction  from  the 
village,  every  family  is  Universalist  in  faith,  and  they  are 
quite  thickly  settled  along  that  road  too;  it  bears  the  cog- 
nomen of  Universalist  street,  and  it  exhibits  throughout,  in 
the  tenements  and  premises,  the  thrift  and  neatness  for 
which  Yankees  and  their  descendants  are  noted. 

Thence  I  went  to  Chatauque  county.  New  York,  where, 
and  in  Erie  county,  I  continued  for  nearly  two  months, 
preaching  from  place  to  place.  At  their  particular  solicita- 
tion, I  spent  three  weeks  within  the  parishes  of  T.  L.  Clark 
and  C.  H.  Button,  who  appointed  meetings  for  me  in  differ- 
ent places,  and  kindly  conveyed  me  to  the  same;  and  at 
the  close  of  my  term  there  I  was  re-conveyed  by  the  lat- 
ter some  forty  or  fifty  miles  back  towards  Erie.  This  was 
my  fourth  and  last  Sabbath  at  Erie.  My  tarry  there,  dur- 
ing my  several  visits,  was  from  first  to  last  rendered  in 
the  highest  degree  agreeable  by  the  unwearied  attentions 
of  Henry  Gifford  and  wife,  whose  only  fault  with  respect 
to  me  was,  that  they  manifested  too  much  solicitude  for 
my  comfort. 

It  was  with  no  very  agreeable  apprehensions  in  regard 
to  roads  and  water,  that  so  late  in  the  season  as  toward 
the  end  of  September,  I  proceeded  to  Detroit  with  the 
the  purpose  of  prosecuting  my  journey  home  by  the  cir- 
cuitous route  through  Michigan,  Illinois,  and  Indiana. 
Detroit  did  not  strike  my  fancy  very  agreeably;  its  better 
class  of  buildings  are  more  massive  than  elegant;  it  wants 
the  front  gardens  of  the  Queen  City,  her  shaded  avenues, 
her  environs  of  picturesque  hills;  it  wants,  in  short,  with 
the  exception  of  a  fine  position,  exceedingly  fine,  all  things 
but  cumbrous  edifices  and  muddy  streets. 

I  left  for  Ann  Arbor  by  railroad  on  Monday  morning, 
which  is  distant  forty  miles,  and  is,  from  its  situation 
on  the  Kalamazoo  river,  and  its  clean  gravelly  soil,  a  very 
pleasant  place.  The  same  is  true  of  all  the  towns  I  saw 
in  Michigan;  they  are  all  finely  situated,  well-built,  taste- 


388         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

fully  laid  out,  and  exhibited  a  thrift  that  I  was  not  prepar- 
ed to  witness  in  so  young  a  State. 

I  preached  eight  discourses  at  Ann  Arbor,  including 
three  on  a  Sabbath,  and  a  funeral  sermon  preached  in  the 
Methodist  church.  J.  Billings,  who  resides  there,  and  is 
one  of  the  most  industrious  of  men,  is  the  only  one  of  our 
Michigan  preachers  I  saw  in  my  journey  through  that 
State;  for,  in  truth,  I  hastened  on  to  Illinois  with  as  little 
delay  as  was  avoidable,  on  account  of  the  lateness  of  the 
season.  At  Marshall  the  railroad  terminates,  a  distance 
of  a  hundred  miles  from  Detroit.  Thence,  about  sun-set- 
ting, I  made  one  of  a  company  which  filled  three  stages, 
destined  for  the  town  of  St.  Joseph,  on  Lake  Michigan. 
I  left  the  stage  at  Kalamazoo,  forty-five  miles  westerly 
from  Marshall,  and  hired  a  buggy  conveyance  next  morn- 
ing to  Schoolcraft.  The  stage  in  which  I  was,  on  the  night 
before  upset  within  a  few  miles  of  Schoolcraft;  it  contained 
eight  passengers,  and  an  infinity  of  baggage,  and  came 
down,  as  may  be  supposed,  with  a  stunning  crash.  I  hap- 
pened to  be  on  the  under  side  in  the  fall,  and  had  two  cor- 
pulent old  gentlemen  on  top  of  me,  who  weighed  more 
than  two  hundred  each.  It  was  amusing  to  hear  the  out- 
cry to  have  the  stage-door  opened  and  to  be  let  out.  The 
two  lusty  old  subjects  on  top  of  me  got  somehow  entangled 
with  each  other,  and  whilst  they  were  contending  which 
should  arise  first,  I  had  to  remain  in  statu  quo  until  that 
point  was  decided.  Happily,  no  damage  took  place,  except 
to  the  stage-laipps  and  windows.  I  received  a  slight  inter- 
nal bruise,  which  caused  me  to  spit  blood  for  an  hour  or 
two  afterwards. 

Schoolcraft  is  situated  on  Prairie  Ronde,  which  is  some 
four  or  five  miles  in  diameter,  with  a  large  island,  or  tim- 
bered tract,  in  the  centre.  It  is  as  beautiful  and  fertile  a 
plain  as  the  eye  could  desire  to  look  upon.  We  have  a 
society  there,  to  whom  1  preached  two  evenings,  and  was 
thence  conveyed  to  Three  Rivers,  thirteen  miles,  by  A.  Y. 
Moore,  whose  guest  I  had  been  at  Pottsville,  Pennsylvania, 
ten  years  before.  I  little  dreamed,  as  he  then  told  me  of 
his  purpose  of  emigrating  to  Michigan,  that  chance  would 
ever  bring  me  to  be  his  guest  in  his  new  home.  From 
Three  Rivers,  I  proceeded  by  stage  some  thiriy  miles  to 
Niles  Village,  which  is  situated  on  the  St.  Joseph  River, 
and  thence  I  hired  a  conveyance  to  South  Bend,  where  1 
was  to  preach  on  the  morrow,  which  was  the  third  Satur- 
day in  November. 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  389 

The  valley  of  St.  Joseph  is  broad,  fertile,  and  heavily 
timbered,  but  to  my  fancy,  not  beautiful,  for  it  presents  a 
sameness  of  appearance  that  fatigues  the  eye  by  its  mo- 
notony. Its  soil  differs  from  that  of  the  Miami  and  Scioto 
valleys,  it  being  far  more  sandy,  which,  in  a  dry  time 
makes  the  traveling  there  a  slow  and  toilsome  business. 
With  the  most  of  Michigan  which  I  saw,  and  I  passed  over 
some  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  it,  I  was  exceedingly 
well  pleased.  Its  oak  openings  are  very  fine,  and  the  soil 
thereof  is  so  mixed  with  gravel,  as  to  be  secure  from  deep 
mud  in  all  seasons.  Interspersed  with  its  wooded  undula- 
tions are  low  meadow  tracts,  which  much  resemble  the 
salt  marshes  of  the  sea-board.  These  are  not  only  now 
timberless,  but  in  all  probability  were  always  so.  They 
are  of  great  advantage  to  the  settler,  no  doubt,  as  they 
bear  to  the  timbered  tracts  about  the  proportion  that  the 
meadow  portion  of  a  farm  should  bear  to  the  arable. 

At  St.  Joseph  I  was  compelled  to  tarry  a  day  and  a  night 
for  lack  of  the  boat,  which  usually  starts  at  a  stated  hour 
every  evening,  for  Chicago.  It  was  Saturday,  and  I  fear- 
ed that  the  frequent  accident  of  a  gale,  or  sudden  squall, 
might  prevent  my  reaching  the  latter  place  in  time  for  my 
appointment  on  the  Sabbath;  but  1  was  more  fortunate, 
and,  although  a  pretty  hard  blow  did  occur  during  the 
passage,  which  tossed  me  about  in  my  birth  somewhat 
roughly,  I  found  myself  safe  in  port  on  arising  next  morn- 
ing, and  lost  no  time  in  wending  my  way  to  the  resi- 
dence of  W.  E.  Manley,  who  is  the  pastor  of  the  Univer- 
salist  church  at  Chicago. 

I  preached  there  on  the  Sabbath,  to  good  congregations. 
With  the  city  itself  I  was  by  no  means  in  raptures,-  its 
site  is  low,  and  nearly  a  dead  level,  and  the  country  about 
it,  is  to  a  wide  extent  so  flat,  and  tame,  and  treeless,  that 
the  eye  looks  in  vain  for  agreeable  objects  in  any  direc- 
tion. In  its  size,  however,  as  well  as  in  the  stir  of  its  busi- 
ness streets,  Chicago  surpassed  my  expectations;  it  is 
also,  for  its  age,  extremely  well  built,  and  furnished  with 
good  plank  side-walks. 

I  was  right  glad  to  grasp  once  more  the  hand  of  W.  W. 
Dean;  to  take  my  seat  at  his  friendly  fire-side,  and  to  join 
him  in  the  exchanges  of  conversation  about  old  times  and 
mutual  acquaintances.  And,  to  my  surprise  and  delight, 
I  found  that  I  was  in  the  midst  of  old  and  very  intimate 
friends,  who,  as  well  as  himself,  had  been  looking  with  so- 


390        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

licitude  for  my  coming.  These  were  some  leading  Uni- 
versalists  from  Pennsylvania,  amongst  whom  I  spent  the 
first  four  years  of  my  Universalist  ministry. 

Having  preached  a  Sabbath  at  Juliet,  I  was  conveyed 
by  Mr.  Dean  to  Aurora,  twenty  miles,  where  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  finding  G.  W.  Lawrence,  who  resides  and 
preaches  there.  He,  also,  was  from  Susquehanna  county, 
Pennsylvania,  and  needed,  therefore,  no  introduction  to 
me.  We  got  up  a  meeting,  which  was  largely  attended. 
On  the  next  day  Mr.  Lawrence  conveyed  me  to  St.  Charles, 
where  I  held  some  evening  meetings. 

On  the  following  Sunday  morning  I  was  taken  back  to 
Aurora,  in  time  for  appointment  at  eleven  o'clock.  Auro- 
ra is  a  pretty  village,  and,  with  the  valley  of  the  Fox 
River  in  which  it  stands,  I  was  pleased  more,  than  with 
any  other  part  of  Illinois  that  I  saw.  It  is  a  beautiful 
stream,  furnishing  good  milling  power  along  its  whole 
length,  and  the  bordering  lands  incline  to  it  with  an  easy 
slope,  which  suffices  to  secure  them  against  being  inun- 
dated when  the  river  is  swollen. 

Mr.  Lawrence  conveyed  me  back  to  Chicago,  forty  miles, 
where  I  had  an  appointment  to  preach  on  Monday  and 
Tuesday  evenings.  After  a  tarry  of  a  few  days  at  Chicago, 
1  proceeded  by  stage  a  second  time  to  Juliet.  The 
weather  was  foul  and  the  roads  deeply  muddy.  It  had 
been  my  purpose,  after  preaching  a  night  in  Juliet,  to  pro- 
ceed on  to  Peru  the  following  Sunday,  but  Mr.  Dean  was 
so  solicitous  that  I  should  spend  another  Sabbath  with  him, 
that  I  consented  to  do  so;  and  in  truth  1  little  needed  to  be 
coaxed  into  that  measure,  for  I  felt  exceedingly  at  home 
at  Juliet. 

My  next  stage  was  to  Peru,  sixty  miles  from  Juliet.  On 
the  way,  toward  night,  the  king-bolt  of  the  coach  broke,  in 
the  midst  of  the  prairie.  The  evening  was  keenly  cold,  and 
I  the  only  passenger.  The  driver  happened  to  have  a 
spare  bolt,  but  we  had  not  sufficient  strength  between  us 
to  lift  the  body  of  the  coach  back  to  its  place;  and  as  to  a 
rail  for  a  lever,  a  prairie  is  not  the  best  place  in  the  world 
to  find  such  an  article.  So,  after  straining  my  feeble 
strength  to  no  eflTect,  until  I  was  both  fatigued  and 
thoroughly  chilled,  I  sat  out  to  get  assistance  at  a  house 
which  1  saw,  and  which  I  thought  to  be  half  a  mile  off 
at  farthest;  after  making  what  speed  I  could  toward  it, 
however,  for  full  half  an  hour,  it  actually  seemed  farther 


OF  A  UNIVERSALIS!  PREACHER.  391 

from  me  than  when  I  set  out.  I  was  amazed ;  I  rubbed  my 
eyes  to  clear  their  vision,  and  looked  around  me  to  see  if 
I  had  not  passed  the  house  toward  which  I  had  first  di- 
rected my  steps.  But  no,  no  object  but  the  stage  was  to 
be  seen  on  the  boundless  expanse  in  my  rear.  At  length 
I  reached  the  house,  and  started  off  some  help  to  the  poor 
driver.  I  found  the  distance  I  had  walked  to  be  full  two 
miles  and  a  half.  The  Lord  help  the  wight  who  gets 
wrecked  on  a  cold  night  in  a  vast  prairie  I  He  will  have  a 
hard  experience  to  tell  thereafter,  methinks,  if  he  live  to 
tell  it. 

I  reached  the  mouth  of  Fox  River  about  three  m  the 
morning,  and  slept  till  day  at  the  ferry-house,  when  a  pas- 
sage had  to  be  cut  through  the  ice  to  Ottoway  on  the 
opposite  shore.  Whence,  after  breakfasting  and  partially 
surveying  the  place,  which  is  superbly  situated,  1  pro- 
ceeded down  the  right  shore  of  the  Illinois  river  to  Peru, 
which  1  reached  about  noon,  and  where  I  tarried  a  few 
days,  holding  evening  meetings  in  the  Presbyterian 
church.  I  found  a  few  pleasant  friends  there,  with  some 
of  w  horn  I  had  been  intimate  ten  years  before,  in  Bradford 
county,  Pennsylvania;  they  are  relatives  of  the  late  Mrs. 
Scott,  the  poetess. 

Few  places  in  Illinois,  or  elsewhere,  can  have  the  auda- 
city, I  should  hope,  to  dispute  the  palm  of  supremacy  in 
ugliness  with  Peru.  It  stands  in  a  straggling  Indian-file 
along  the  base  of  a  steep  and  unsightly  hill,  and  with 
barely  a  strip  for  a  road  between  it  and  the  river. 

Thence  to  Hennepin  is  sixteen  miles.  I  proceeded  thither 
by  stage  on  Saturday,  and  preached  that  evening  and  on 
the  following  day  to  large  congregations.  John  Libby  was 
then  residing  and  preaching  there.  On  Monday  he  took 
me  to  Caledonia,  and  the  next  day  to  Magnolia,  and  thence 
again  to  the  stage-road,  on  Wednesday,  with  the  view  of 
intercepting  the  stage  for  Chillicothe,  where  I  had  an  ap- 
pointment to  preach  that  night.  On  our  reaching  the  road, 
however,  the  stage  had  passed,  and  my  only  chance  of 
avoiding  a  disappointment  at  Chillicothe,  was,  for  Mr. 
Libby  to  carry  me  thither,  twenty  miles,  and  the  Illinois 
River  to  cross  into  the  bargain!  "  Dont  say  a  word,"  inter- 
rupted he,  as  I  began  to  plead  for  his  taking  me  on,  "  I 
am  made  up  to  see  you  to  your  appointment  in  time,  of 
course,  so  not  a  word  need  be  said,  my  brother." 


392         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

On  our  arrival  atChillicothe,  the  first  voice  which  greet- 
ed me  was  that  of  an  old  familiar  acquaintance,  J.  Moffitt, 
whom  but  the  summer  before  I  had  met  and  parted  with  in 
the  beautiful  town  of  the  same  name  in  Ohio. 

Thence  to  Peoria  is  twenty  miles,  where  on  a  Sabbath 
and  several  evenings,  I  discoursed  to  moderately  good 
audiences.  In  point  of  situation  it  is  scarcely  possible  to 
over-praise  that  town.  Nature  would  seem  to  have  spe- 
cially tasked  herself  to  render  it  perfect.  With  the  pastor 
of  our  society  there,  F.  J.  Briggs,  I  went  on  Christmas  day 
to  Farmingion,  sixteen  miles  westerly,  on  the  melancholy 
errand  of  ministering  at  the  burial  of  the  wife  of  one  of 
our  preachers  there,  A.  Kinney;  who  has  since  been  called 
to  share  with  his  companion  the  rest  of  the  grave.  Mr. 
B.  preached  on  the  occasion  a  sermon  of  much  soothing 
power. 

From  Peoria  to  Springfield,  the  State  capital,  is  seventy 
miles,  and  thence  to  Terre-Haute  is  one  hundred  and 
forty  milos,  through  seemingly  interminable  prairies.  I 
preached  in  the  former,  eight  sermons,  to  good  audiences; 
and  in  the  latter  four,  to  very  large  ones.  Thence  home, 
by  the  way  of  Indianapolis  and  Madison,  nearly  two  hun- 
dred miles,  I  found  to  be  a  journey  which  put  one's  bones 
to  severe  proof  in  being  jolted  over  corderoy  roads  and 
causeways,  somewhat  less  tenderly  than  though  one's 
conductors  conceived  their  freight  to  consist  of  looking- 
glasses  or  china-ware. 

Reader,  here  endeth  the  details  of  these  various  ram- 
bles and  experiences.  The  author  would  hope  that  your 
time  in  their  perusal  has  not  been  unpleasantly,  nor  even 
unprofitably  occupied.  True,  your  share  therein  has  been 
but  imaginary,  while  mine  has  been  real.  But  then, 
you  know,  in  this  mocking  world,  the  ideal  of  pleasure 
often  surpasses  the  actual,  and  you  may  at  least  console 
yourself  with  one  advantage  over  your  poor  journalist, 
namely,  that  as  you  have  not  personally  experienced  the 
pleasures  of  his  journeyings,  so  neither  have  you  had  the 
fatigues,  exposures,  discouragements,  and  vexations  there- 
of; such  things,  you  know,  are  sure  to  make  a  serious 
per  contra  in  every  account  of  pleasure  in  this  chaneful 
life. 


OF   A   TJNIVERSALIST   PREACHER.  393 


CHAPTER   XX. 

The  state  of  Universalism  in  the  West  at  the  time  of  the  author's 
first  acquaintance  with  it;  its  present  condition  and  prospects. 
Reflections  on  the  style  of  preaching  best  adapted  for  permanent 
usefulness;  and  the  peculiar  mission  of  Universalism  to  mankind. 

Little,  comparatively,  or  to  little  visible  effect,  had  been 
accomplished  for  Universalism  in  the  West,  at  the  period 
of  my  first  acquaintance  with  it  in  1834.  The  number  of 
our  preachers  west  of  the  AUeghenies,  who  gave  them- 
selves wholly  to  the  work,  did  not  exceed  half  a  dozen. 
Of  those,  William  H.  Jolly,  and  N.  Wadsworth,  have  long 
since  gone  to  their  rest.  Asher  A.  Davis  has  removed  to 
another  field  of  labor;  and  but  T.  Strong,  A.  Sweet,  E. 
Beals,  and  A.  Bond,  remain.  Jonathan  Kidwell  had,  afore- 
time, labored  extensively  in  Ohio,  and  parts  of  Indiana: 
but  the  influence  of  years  was  upon  him,  and  he  had  well 
nigh  ceased  from  active  labors.  E.  B.  Mann,  also,  had 
journeyed  over  a  wide  portion  of  the  West,  and  had  scat- 
tered, broad-cast,  our  publications  of  various  kinds,  and  he 
yet  continues  to  achieve  undoubted  good  in  that  path  of 
labor. 

Of  meeting-houses,  owned  wholly  by  Universalists,  there 
were  but  three  in  the  whole  West,  and  they  were  all  in 
Ohio.  A  fourth  was  erected  at  Belpre  the  summer  follow- 
ing my  first  western  visit.  A  fifth  was  built  at  Perrysburg, 
on  the  Maumee  River.  lis  erection  and  the  formation  of 
the  society  there,  were  effected  by  the  instrumentality  of 
D.  R.  Biddlecome,  about  the  time,  or  shortly  subsequent 
to  it,  that  I  was  laboring  at  Cincinnati  to  the  same  ends. 

Subsequent  to  my  settlement  in  Cincinnati,  meeting- 
houses were  erected  at  Brimfield  and  Akron,  through  the 
labors,  at  the  former,  of  J.  Whitney,  and  at  the  latter,  of 
Freeman  Loring.  Also,  not  long  subsequrnt  to  these,  a 
church  was  erected  at  Olmstead,  by  the  instrumentality  of 
S.  Hull,  who  has  since  labored  with  zeal  and  to  good  effect 
in  those  parts,  and  is  at  present  among  the  most  efficient  of 
our  many  highly  useful  and  laborious  ministers  in  Ohio. 

But  the  feeble  showing  which  our  cause  made  in  the 
way  of  churches  and  ministers,  was  far  from  being  its 
most  discouraging  aspect.  There  was  also  an  almost  total 
absence  of  organization  in  the  West,  and  a  prevalent  re- 
luctance, on  the  part  of  persons  professing  our  faith,  to 
26 


394         EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

come  into  any  kind  of  ecclesiastical  order.  The  conse- 
quence was,  that  our  people  were  scattered  like  sheep 
without  folds  or  shepherds.  The  country,  however,  was 
comparatively  new,  its  civil  and  social  state  did  not  present 
the  regularity  and  order  which  older  communities  are  apt 
to  exhibit.  Moreover,  (and  I  state  not  this  censoriously, 
for  I  too,  as  the  reader  will  have  seen,  had  formerly  erred 
in  like  manner,)  much  of  the  Universalist  preaching  in  the 
West  had  been  by  men  who  were  latitudinarian  in  their 
views  of  church  government:  they  denounced  the  paying 
of  ministers,  the  forming  of  churches,  the  adopting  of 
creeds,  and  in  short,  the  coming,  as  they  termed  it,  "  under 
ecclesiastical  trammels  of  any  sort."  Well,  the  result 
was — what  every  body  experienced  in  these  matters  is  pre- 
pared to  be  told  it  was — one  preacher  after  another  was 
starved  out  of  the  field;  some  three  or  four  others  with- 
drew from  us  in  disgust,  and  attached  themselves  to  the 
Jlf^formers.  Scarcely  any  societies  were  formed,  or  meet- 
i.ig-houses  erected,  or  unity  of  action  to  any  useful  ends 
effected;  and  the  whole  struggle  for  gospel  truth,  as  we 
view  it,  would  probably  have  been  in  time  abandoned,  but 
that  the  above-named  devoted  men,  with  the  aid  of  here 
and  there  an  active  and  influential  laymen,  labored  hard  to 
keep  the  languishing  flame  from  extinguishment. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  Univcrsalism  in  the  West  in 
1834.  There  were  then  within  the  boundaries  of  tho 
Miami  and  Ballou  Associations,  comprising  Cincinnati,  and 
thence  northeasterly  to  Chiliicothe,  not  a  single  meeting- 
house, nor  a  single  preacher.  A  pork-house  in  Mont- 
gomery, was  the  place  of  meeting  of  the  former  at  the 
time  of  its  formation.  No  building  more  respectable 
could  be  obtained  from  the  courtesy  or  the  christian  kind- 
ness of  the  citizens  of  that  village.  There  are  now  within 
those  bounds,  twelve  meeting-houses  and  ten  ministers. 
That  the  number  of  both  will  be  doubled  within  something 
more  than  half  the  same  time  to  come,  it  is  not  extrava- 
gant to  expect,  nay,  the  prospect  of  it  is  almost  certain. 
Organization  is  now  there,  and  the  "  Sage  called  Disci- 
pline;'*' and  where  these  are,  everything,  in  a  good  cause, 
may  be  hoped  for. 

In  Indiana,  where  alaxer  discipline  prevails,  the  changes 
in  our  favor  have  been  less  favorable;  yet  even  there 
the  increase,  within  the  term  of  which  I  speak,  has  been 
from  nothing  at  all,  in  the  way  of  societies  and  meeting- 


or  A  UNIVERSALIST  PREACHER.  395 

houses,  to  one  of  each  at  Patriot,  Rising  Sun,  Madison, 
Terre-Haute,  Dublin,  Crawfordsville,  Perrysburg,  Dayton, 
■Bake's  Settlement,  and  Knightstown.  At  Fort  \\'ayne, 
also,  a  worthy  minister  is  now  located,  who  will  not  fail  of 
soon  effecting  there  the  same  results.  Nothing,  indeed,  is 
needed,  but  a  systematic  course  of  proceeding,  to  secure  a 
triumphant  prevalence  of  our  principles  through  the 
length  and  breadth  of  that  State. 

As  to  Illinois,  especially  the  northern  half  of  it,  the 
prospect  is,  that  it  will  even  outstrip  Ohio,  in  the  pro- 
gress it  will  exhibit  in  ftivor  of  our  cause  at  no  distant 
date.  In  Kentucky,  also,  there  is  a  recent  waking  up  in 
various  parts  to  an  interest  in  the  truth.  The  church 
planted  at  Louisville,  in  that  State,  by  W.  W.  Dean,  is  un- 
dergoing mucli  enlargement  under  the  ministry  of  E.  M. 
Pingree;  and  the  zeal  and  liberality  of  Dr.  W.  B.  Cham- 
berlain, of  Warsaw,  seems  to  have  diffused  through  a  por- 
tion of  that  State  a  zeal  and  liberality  similar  to  his  own. 
And  this  reminds  me  to  remark,  that,  among  the  agencies 
whereby  these  changes  have  been  effected  for  our  cause  in 
the  West,  it  is  due  that  a  prominent  place  be  given  to  the 
labors  and  influence  of  several  respectable  laymen,  whose 
well-judged  and  persevering  efforts  could  hardly  fail  to 
have  been  followed  by  such  results.  Nowhere,  so  far  as  I 
know,  is  Universalism  so  greatly  indebted  for  its  preva- 
lence to  the  efforts  of  laymen,  and  so  little,  comparatively 
to  those  of  ministers,  as  in  that  quarter  of  the  great  West. 
I  would  that  this  held  true  every  where,  for  nothing  af- 
fords me  sincercr  pleasure,  than  to  see  respectable  and  in- 
fluential laymen  thus  zealously  affected  in  a  good  thing. 

When  1  first  removed  to  Cincinnati,  I  was,  as  a  Univer- 
salist  preacher,  lonely  enough.  Between  that  city  and  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  there  was  not  another  in  that  direction, 
nor  due  westerly  in  all  the  immense  distance  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  As  my  wife  deplored  our  removal  to  our  then  so 
lonely  position,  in  respect  to  co-laborers  in  the  same  work, 
and  I  promised  her,  hopefully,  that  it  would  not  be  many 
years  ere  we  should  have  as  many  ministering  brethren 
around  us  as  w^e  had  left  behind — I  confess  that  it  se- 
cretly seemed  to  me  more  a  fond  prophecy  of  hope,  than 
a  matter  of  sober  expectation.  Yet  it  has  been  realized : 
O,  thank  God,  more  than  realized. 

And,  surely,  with  reference  to  later  kindred  publications, 
;i  will  not  be  invidious  to  say,  that  ihe  Star  in  the  West, 


S96        EXPERIENCE,  LABORS,  AND  TRAVELS 

in  the  hands  of  John  A.  Gurley,  assisted  by  his  able  co- 
adjutor, E.  M.  Pingree,  has,  like  the  heart  in  the  human 
organism,  given  a  main  impulse  and  vitality  to  this  impor- 
tant moral  movement.  For  many  years  before,  it  is  true, 
the  Star  had  shed  its  welcome  beams  over  that  vast  realm, 
whereof  it  is  still  the  most  cherished  gospel  light,  after,  of 
course,  the  Divine  book  itself;  but  at  the  time  when  John  A. 
Gurley  became  its  proprietor,  its  prospects  had  become 
dim  for  continuing  to  shine  with  the  same  steady  beams 
as  formerly;  clouds  had  gathered  around  it,  and  there 
seemed  a  probability  that  its  already  partial  would  soon 
become  a  total  obscuration.  That  probability  has  passed 
far  and  bravely  by,  thank  God! 

And  to  the  spirit  of  order,  too,  which  has  kept  steady 
pace  in  the  West  with  the  increase  of  ministers,  the  pro- 
gress of  truth  is  greatly  indebted  :  for  what,  in  any  cause* 
can  be  effected  without  a  well-concerted  system  of  co-oper- 
ative action?  And  does  not  such  harmony  of  action  of 
necessity  imply,  that  the  parties  engaged  therein  are  well 
organized?  As  well,  methinks,  might  the  accretion  of  par- 
ticles be  expected  to  take  place  independently  of  the  at- 
traction of  cohesion,  as  for  a  scattered  mass  of  co-believers 
to  become  a  compact  body,  moving  to  a  given  end  with 
unity  of  design  and  harmony  of  action,  without  the  adop- 
tion of  an  uniform  system  of  laws  and  government.  True, 
by  the  force  of  its  own  grand  truths,  our  doctrine  has 
forced  its  way,  as  afore  described,  amidst  all  the  hindrances 
of  an  imperfect  organization  and  defective  instrumentali- 
ties. What,  then,  may  it  not  be  expected  to  do,  now  that 
its  efficiency  is  in  both  these  respects  so  materially  im- 
proved? 

With  respect  to  what  should  be  the  tone  of  pulpit  labors, 
I  hope  I  will  be  pardoned  the  presumption  of  adventur 
ing  some  advice.  How  much  preaching  is  there  which 
has  no  perceptible  relation  to  human  morals,  or  to  human 
interests  !  Disquisitions  upon  white-washing;  the  con- 
struction of  mouse-traps,  the  prevention  of  night-mare; 
any  such  matters,  though  alien  to  the  purpose  for  which 
people  convene  on  Sabbaths,  would  be  more  germaine  to 
the  interests  of  the  hearers,  than  are  a  majority  of  the 
polemical  ebullitions  to  which  they  are  compelled  to  listen 
by  the  hour.  But  of  all  that  goes  under  the  name  and 
pretence  of  preaching,  that  which  tends  only  to  stir  up 
rancorous  feeling  toward  others,  who  entertain  a  different 


OF  A  UNIVEESALIST  PREACHER.  397 

faith  from  ourselves,  is  by  an  unspeakable  difference,  the 
most  execrable^  and  he  who  indulges  in  it,  I  hesitate  not  to 
affirm,  would  be  less  injuriously  employed  if  he  were  rob- 
bincr  on  a  public  high-way. 

To  young  preachers  the  inducement  is  strong  to  show  off 
their  smartness  at  the  expense  of  opposing  creeds:  those 
creeds  themselves,  by  their  absurdities,  often  furnish  a 
large  part  of  the  temptation,  and  the  gratification  to  the 
preacher's  vanity,  afforded  by  the  approving  smiles  and 
nods,  and  after-meeting  commendations  of  the  auditors, 
fully  makes  up  the  residue.  But  ah,  me!  how  little  worth 
is  this  sort  of  incense!  From  whom  comes  it  in  general? 
From  the  wise?  the  good?  the  sincere?  the  lover  of 
Christ's  cause?  Seldom  from  either.  More  generally 
rather,  from  those  who  would  applaud  Paine's  ribaldries, 
at  the  expense  of  all  religion;  from  those  who  would  grin 
approvingly  at  the  insidious  sneers  of  Hume  and  Gibbon; 
or  indulge  in  full-mouthed  laughter  at  the  E,cc€  Homo  of 
Chubb.  The  preacher  is  in  bad  keeping  with  his  cause, 
methinks,  who  panders  to  the  liking  of  such  as  these. 

That  preaching  doubtless  is  best,  which  most  tends  to 
lodge  useful  truths  in  the  minds  of  the  hearers,  and  which 
does  this  in  a  way  most  compatible  with  christian  kindness 
to  all.  By  useful  truth,  I  mean  that  which  is  available  for 
practical  purposes;  for  comfort  under  affliction;  for  en- 
couragement amid  the  vicissitudes  of  life;  for  enlargement 
of  the  charities  of  the  hearer;  the  elevation  of  their  aims; 
and  the  increase  of  their  confidence  in  God. 

It  may  be  well,  then,  to  close  this  work  with  some  re- 
marks upon  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  peculiar  mission  of 
Universalism  to  mankind. 

I  say  the  peculiar  mission.  I  speak  not  invidiously,  but 
truly;  for  the  work  to  which  I  a  lude,  seems,  by  the  other 
sects  of  Christendom,  to  be  left  exclusively  to  the  Univer- 
salist  body;  and  that  body  alone,  by  the  doctrines  it  holds, 
is  qualified  for  the  doing  of  it. 

The  peculiar  mission  of  Universalism,  then,  is,  Firstly, 
to  lay  in  the  human  mind  a  foundation  of  love,  gratitude, 
and  trust  toward  God.  This  it  does  by  teaching  that  God 
eternally,  unchangeably,  and  unconditionally  loves  man- 
kind; that  he  created  us  for  merciful  ends,  and  in  regard 
thereto  he  cannot  and  will  not  be  thwarted;  that  he  will 
not,  for  any  cause  whatever,  allow  himself  to  lose  sight  of 
his  benevolent  purposes  toward  us;  for  those  were  found- 


C15.8  EXPERIENCE,    LABORS,    AND    TRAVELS 

ed,  not  on  merit  in  us,  but  on  goodness  in  himself,  and  on 
his  relation  to  us  as  Creator  and  Father. 

In  this  view,  we  can  love  the  Deity,  '•  because  he  first 
loved  us.'*  We  can  be  grateful  toward  him,  because,  in 
conferring  being  upon  us,  he  conferred  what  shall  infallibly 
prove  a  blessing  to  us — an  unspeakable  blessing.  We  trust 
in  him,  because  he  never  can  vacilate  or  swerve  from  his 
purposes:  "he  cannot  deny  himself;"  he  cannot  cease  to  be 
good,  be  we  ever  so  evil.  His  ways  are  not  as  our  ways, 
nor  his  thoughts  as  our  thoughts,  but,  by  the  immeasura-> 
ble  distance  that  heaven  is  from  earth,  are  his  ways  ahove 
our  ways,  and  his  thoughts  above  our  thoughts. 

Secondly,  it  is  the  peculiar  province  of  Universalism 
to  draw  man  into  closer  union  with  man,  by  teaching  that 
the  fraternal  tie  is  now,  and  forever  shall  be,  commensu- 
rate with  the  entire  race.  When,  therefore,  we  minister 
to  a  fellow  man,  of  what  condition,  nation,  complexion, 
creed  soever,  we  minister  to  one  who  shall,  with  us,  coin- 
herit  the  Father's  glory  and  felicity  for  evermore.  We 
have,  then,  rrasans  for  our  ])hilanthropy  beyond  what  any 
other  form  of  faith  can  possibly  furnish;  for  ours  is  the 
only  one  which  denies  that  all  relation  and  sympathy 
between  man  and  man,  except  in  certain  cases,  shall  cease 
at  death;  and  not  cease  merely,  but  that  actual  hatred 
and  scorn  shall  then  spring  up  between  the  saved  and  the 
lost,  and  that  such  antagonism  shall  co-endure  with  iheit 
eternity  of  being. 

Thirdly.  It  is  a  peculiarity  of  Universalism,  that  it 
makes  the  paths  of  righteousness  a/^rac/i??^,-  not  merely  by 
the  above  considerations,  but  also  by  showing  it  to  be  i?i- 
cariably  to  man'' s  present  advantage  to  walk  therein;  and 
that  by  sinning,  we  inevitabh/  secure  present  misery  to  our- 
selves. That  vice  may  yield  certain  sensual  gratifica- 
tions, we  deny  not,  for  these  form  the  allurements  to  its 
jjerpetration;  but  a  heavy  misery,  we  insist,  a  misery  out- 
weighing the  pleasure  a  hundred  fold,  is  the  hard  price  at 
which  these  gratifications  are  obtained.  Oh!  to  human 
weal,  to  the  cause  of  virtue,  it  is  immensely  important 
that  we  succeed  in  implanting  this  truth  deep  in  the 
universal  mind  of  humanity. 

Fourthly.  Universalism  has  a  mission  full  of  cheer  to 
man's  hopes,  full  of  soothing  to  his  griefs,  of  satisfaction 
to  h  s  discontents,  of  reconciliation  to  his  enmities.  W^hat 
else  can  staunch  the  wounds  of  the  bereaved  heart  as  it 
cm?     What  can  so  reconcile  man  to  the  hardness  of  his 


OF    A    ITNIVERSALIST    PREACHER.  399- 

earthly  lot?  What  so  enable  him  to  smile  through  his 
tears?  What  so  satisfactorily  explain  the  mysteries  ot* 
present  sin  and  suffering  under  the  government  of  an  all- 
benevolent  and  almighty  Being?     And  hence, 

Fifthly.  To  Universalism,  peculiarly,  bekngs  the  work 
of  freeing  the  religion  of  the  Bible  from  the  objections 
Which  seem  to  lie  against  it,  as  explained  by  other  faiths^ 
Now,  although,  as  1  am  aware  is  the  fact,  each  creed  may 
claim  in  its  own  behalf  this  peculiar  distinction,  yet,  that 
it  holds  true  of  our  doctrine  only,  will  be  manifest  to  the' 
reason  of  every  reflecting  person.  As  to  how  the  divine 
benevolence  is  to  be  vindicated,  for  example,  in  relation 
to  present  sin  and  suffering,  Universalism  alone,  can,  by 
possibility,  furnish  the  kind  and  degree  of  satisfaction 
which  enlightened  reason  requires. 

For  how  many  bleeding  hearts  have  the  comforts  of 
religion  hitherto  proved  inadequate.  To  how  much  hope- 
less human  wo  has  her  voice  of  soothing  failed  to  impart 
the  needed  consolation?  And  why  is  this?  Is  (vhrislV 
religion,  then,  unequal  to  the  blessed  ministries  for  which 
it  was  designed?  Has  the  infinite  love  vainly  essayed  to 
reach,  by  the  hand  of  religion,  down  to  the  uttermost 
depths  of  human  misery?  To  these  questions  we  unhesi- 
tatingly answer,  yes — leaving  Universalism  out  of  the 
account.  But,  in  view  of  that  faith,  wo  triumphantly 
miswer,  No. 

No,  thank  God,  no:  it  would  overtosk  the  ingenuity  of 
njun  to  suggest  a  case-of  earthly  anguish,  for  which  Uni- 
versalism cannot  point  to  an  adequate  remedy  in  heaven. 
And  to  do  this,  is  an  important  part  of  her  peculiar  mission 
lo  mankind.  And,  then,  furthermore,  has  not  Universal- 
ism a  mission,  all  her  own,  to  man\s  re.Kuitments,  to  his 
pride,  to  his  exclusiveness? 

To  the  first,  because  she  teaches  that  God  forgives  in-^ 
finitely;  and  that  we  must  love  our  enemies  as  he  loves 
his.  To  the  second,  because  in  her  creed  all  distinctions 
between  man  and  man  are  a-:cribable  to  the  Alu:ighty  Dis- 
poser of  all  things,  "who  distributeth  to  every  man  sev- 
erally as  He  will."  And,  because,  also,  she  inculcates 
that  the  God  who  maketh  us  thus  to  differ  is  the  impartial 
Father  and  benefactor  of  all,  and  will  bring  all  at  length 
to  a  level  of  glory  and  blessedness.  To  the  third,  or  the 
exclusiveness  of  man,  Universalism  conveys  the  reproof, 
that  we  all  have  a  common  origin,  a  common  end,  a  com- 
uQon  relation  to  God;  are  pensioners  upon  his  bounty  in 


400  MPERIENCE,   ETC.,   ETC. 

comnnon;  are  in  a  common  condition  of  sinfulness,  and 
are  therefore  dependent,  in  common,  upon  his  free  mercy. 

Now,  in  respect  to  all  and  singular  of  the  foregoing 
offices  in  man's  behalf,  Universalism  is  peculiar.  Other 
offices  she  has,  in  common  with  other  forms  of  Christian- 
ity, but  these  are  exclusively  her  own.  Is  it,  then,  ex- 
travagant to  hope  that  in  proportion  as  her  influence  is 
felt  on  human  society,  the  tone  and  morals  of  that  society, 
its  legislation,  government,  civil  and  criminal  codes,  its 
domestic  and  social  institutions,  all,  must  be  very  greatly 
improved? 

Except  humanity  is  sadly  belied  by  the  histories  of  the 
past,  bad  forms  of  faith  have  impressed  upon  it  a  char- 
acter after  their  own  likeness;  and  why  may  not  humanity 
be  influenced  for  good,  also,  by  creeds  of  religion  which 
are  equitable  and  humane?  That  Jesus  had  in  prospect  a 
vision  of  such  good  results  upon  human  society  from  his 
religion,  is  certain;  and  that  such,  through  the  vista  of 
intervening  ages,  were  seen  by  prophets  of  old  as  the 
fruits  of  Christ's  spiritual  reign  among  men,  is  equally 
certain.  What  transporting  scenes  pass  before  the  eye  of 
faith  through  the  glass  of  prophecy.  How  far  transcend- 
ing the  poetic  fiction  of  an  age  of  gold  1  The  lion  and 
the  lamb  lie  down  together:  the  din  of  war  ceases;  all  men 
are  seeking  Zion,  with  their  faces  thitherward.  The 
North  gives  up,  the  South  keeps  not  back;  the  multitude 
of  the  Isles,  the  fullness  of  the  Gentiles;  sons  from  afar, 
and  daughters  from  the  ends  of  the  earth  ;  all  eagerly 
throng  the  highway  of  holiness,  and  in  all  the  holy  moun- 
tain there  is  nothing  to  hurt  nor  destroy. 

•^  One  song  employs  all  nations,  and  all  cry, 
Worthy  the  Lamb!  lor  he  was  slain  for  us! 
The  dwellers  in  the  vales  and  on  the  rocks 
Shout  to  each  other;  and  the  distant  mountains 
Catch  the  flying  joy — till  nation  after  nation 
Taught  the  strain,  earth  rolls  the  rapturous 
Hosanna  round." 

Now,  although  poetic  fancy  may  somewhat  have  ex- 
travagated  in  its  pictu rings  of  these  events,  yet  to  my 
faith,  they  are  no  mere  dreams,  nor  the  fond  hopes  with 
which  the  imagination  is  prone  to  please  itself,  but  the 
foreseen  results  which  the  universal  spread  of  truth  is 
likely  to  produce  in  the  condition  of  human  society. — 
Amen! 


938.91 
xR63 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


0026001942 


4 


MW 


,  1  6  1957 


IJii^- 


If^ 


^^^h' 

■H^*:*; 


